Last weekend I experienced a bad case of the upside-downs…literally. After checking the baking progress of a carefully constructed pineapple upside-down cake, it looked done (according to the recipe time, it should have been and then some!) Inverting it upside-down on a cake plate, however, hot brown sugar syrup splattered all over the counter. A bit dismayed dodging the scalding, sticky mess, I unclasped the spring-form pan & took the top off (very carefully) to find a total DISASTER: an alarmingly large sinking crater of liquid batter.

Major-league pineapple cake blues ensued.  AUGH!!! What to do? With busy pots on burners bubbling away for a special celebratory dinner, there was no time to procure a cake or bake another one. Contemplating the demise of all those yummy ingredients also increased the blues factor. Frazzled, yet suddenly dazzled with possibilities, I quickly ‘upside-downed’ the ruined cake back into the pan, and (with a prayer) put it back into the oven for a second round of baking.

While tending the busy dinner pots, a food flash of divine inspiration hit (this also required a bit of faith that everything would ‘pan out’ ok)  – why not make more brown sugar syrup to replace the sticky mess scrubbed off the counter? After 30 more baking minutes, the crispier cratered cake was upside-downed (again), poked, drizzled with the new syrup & later served after dinner with a bit of faith & whipped cream. (Note: turned upside-down no one could see the solidly baked crater underneath!)

My brother, the feted one who chose the cake, said it was the “best pineapple cake he ever ate” & there were no crumbs left on anyone’s plates (mine inclusive!)

While washing up with a grateful heart, I got to thinking – hmmm, Lord, maybe there’s a lesson here? Sometimes our lives get messy with upside-downs when things don’t turn out as we expect and look disastrous – like crashing craters of cake and carefully crafted brown sugar syrup splattered everywhere. We get stuck in the blues, all befuddled & muddled in the craters and splatters – how we’ve mixed things up, our failures, seemingly wasted efforts, or what’s been dealt on our plates.

But God has given us good ingredients – mercy, grace, wisdom, peace, patience, and joy mixed in His everlasting batter of LOVE for us. If we by faith persevere, God IS good in the divine inspiration department and 2nd chances are what He’s all about.

Don’t give up. Try again…

No crumbs left.

this morning, last piece pineapple upside-down cake