A Great Big Slice Of Grace

Every now and then we all have pie.  My family think it should go more like, all the time we have every pie.  Our family loves pie and that might be the understatement of the year.  We even have rules about pie.  On Thanksgiving there are to be no fewer than one pie per person.  This includes babies that can’t even eat pie yet.

Thanksgiving morning we start the day off the right way with pumpkin pie for breakfast.  The main pie rule of the house though, is if there is pie sitting on the counter it is fair game, no “saving” pie for later.

I am not humble about my pie baking abilities either.  I make really good pie.  My secret weapon is my great-great-grandmother’s piecrust recipe.  There is no delicate blending of ingredients, you can use this stuff like play-doh and it still comes out amazingly light and flaky.

I know how the piecrust feels.  In the Bible we are compared to clay that the potter uses to make jars and such with, but I think this pie crust example works too.  God uses circumstances in our lives to squish us, mold us, and roll us into perfect shapes to hold all His delicious truths.  I don’t like the shaping part though, it can be uncomfortable and painful!  But when God fills me with His truth and grace it is all worth it.

The best part about pie is eating it of course, but pie always tastes better when we are sharing it with people we care about.  That is God’s goal in shaping and filling us with grace too, for us to share it with other people.  This Thanksgiving my prayer for you dear reader, is that you will allow God to form you into the shape He has designed for you to be, and that the grace He pours into you would overflow to those around you.

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”  Isaiah 64:8

And now for my great-great-grandmother’s piecrust recipe:

Piecrust
4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. salt (I never add the salt, but you might like it with the salt better)

1 Tbs. vinegar

1 egg

1/2 cup water

With a fork, mix together flour, shortening, sugar and salt, (if using.)  In a separate bowl, beat the remaining ingredients.  Combine the two mixtures, stirring with fork, (or squishing with your hands!) until thoroughly combined.  Then mold into four balls.  Chill at least 15 minutes before rolling in desired shape.  Dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and left in refrigerator up to three days or can be frozen until ready to use.