The Parable of the Baking Soda

There are some things are I am not too good at:

1. Team Sports. (I still have horrible memories of being picked last every single time during P.E.)
2. Not getting stressed. (Although I am working on it.)
3. Being outgoing in a large group of people. (And when I mean a large group of people, I mean anything over six. Yes, I know. I'm pathetic.)

There are some things I am OK at:

1. Cooking a meal for company. (See number 2 above. I'm ALWAYS worried that they won't like what I made, or it won't turn out, or that it won't be done in time.)
2. Fixing my hair so it looks OK. (Emily touches it up for special occasions. I wish EVERY day was a special occasion.)
3. Playing the organ. (I've been taking lessons for a few months now and slowly I'm hoping to get better than OK.)

There are some things I am very good at:

1. Keeping a clean and orderly home. (It's never perfect, but I'm never embarrassed to have someone drop by unexpectedly.)
2. Setting and accomplishing goals. (Ask my long time friends--they will vouch for me on that one.)
3. Baking some pretty awesome chocolate chip cookies.

I was very good at baking cookies, until I moved to cute little town. The recipe stayed the same. The pans were still the magical ones. But, my cookies just didn't turn out.
At first I thought it was the oven.
My old oven was perfect. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 9 minutes and you had perfection. Every. single. time.
I raised the temperature of the oven. That helped.
I let them cook just a minute longer. That helped.
But, there was still something not quite right about those cookies.
They were flat.
As I recently pondered this perplexing turn of events, I kept getting a prompting: "Check your baking soda."
I ignored it.
A day later, I remembered that prompting. "Check your baking soda."
I wasn't anywhere near the kitchen at the time, so the thought was fleeting.
The third time I was prompted to check the baking soda, I did. We had two open boxes of baking soda. (I don't know HOW that happened.) Imagine my shock when both of them had expired in 2010--right about the time Heather got married and we moved.
No wonder my cookies were flat.
As I write this, I am baking a fresh batch of cookies with fresh baking soda. They are golden brown and slightly puffy. I'm still trying to figure out this oven, but maybe, I'll become a very good baker again.
As I thought about this, I think many times we let our "baking soda" go flat. We lose that zest for living. Perhaps it's because we aren't taking care of ourselves physically. We aren't eating right. We aren't getting enough exercise. We aren't getting enough sleep.
Perhaps we aren't taking care of ourselves emotionally. We aren't reaching out to friends. We aren't building our family relationships. We are neglecting an important part of our inner core.
Perhaps we aren't taking care of ourselves spiritually. We have neglected our scripture study. Our prayers have become trite. We aren't engaged in meaningful worship.
I'm grateful for re-learning how important baking soda is in baking. I will never assume that my opened box can last forever. As soon as I see the tell-tale sign of flat cookies (or a flat life) I'll wonder if it (or my life) has lost it's zest for living. Then, I'll do something about it.