We took sweet counsel together,
And walked to the house of God in the throng.
And walked to the house of God in the throng.
Psalms 55:14
We
had a party! We were the guests of a friend, who while being among the most
gracious hosts I’ve ever known, can’t cook to save her life. We chipped in, helped out, coached, provided
recipes and encouragement along with our own dishes. We shared sweet counsel.
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To
be fair, David penned the 55th Psalm when his heart was broken. He was distressed about his own sin,
betrayal, weary of the duplicitous nature of people in whom he trusted,
supposed people of God, so perhaps it wasn’t the scripture I should consider
when basking in the afterglow of a lovely evening spent in fellowship. However, the poetry of this particular phrase
within the Psalm speaks precisely to sweet spirit that abided with us
yesterday. These are the friends of my
friend who themselves have become mi familia.
We relished in sweet counsel.
Maybe
I should have considered Ephesians 4:32, where Paul gently admonished the young
church to “…be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God in Christ forgave you." We do give our girl a hard time for her culinary skills, but let me also say when it comes to our friend; we are kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. We love her and give her grief like you do a younger sibling, which is probably how we treat her. However, I must be forthcoming. In thinking about it, we are not an easy bunch. Let me introduce you to the overachieving crew that are my friends.
Despite
that they can be viewed as intimidating (which they aren’t), my friends are
wonderful. This group is well educated, dynamic;
extraordinary women who work hard, love to laugh, deeply grateful for the
blessing of friendship. They are lovely,
giving, warm and loving people to be around.
It’s why we create excuses to hang out together.
Exhibit
A has done (in cooking and entertaining), most of the things to which I
aspire. Somehow, limoncello came up, and
I mentioned that I’d planned to make it this year to give as Christmas gifts. She (without any flourish and not an ounce of
one-ups-manship) takes a bottle out of the fridge, with a label she made, and
pours some for me. This is also the
woman that sliced and fried the plantain chips we ate, heck, girlie even makes
her own raisins and yes, puts them in a custom blended cereal. She’s all that.
Exhibit
B is my BFF. If she tells me to try a
particular recipe, I do, because it’s going to be a hit out of the park. She is supermom, superfriend, la diva
entertainer, and built the spreadsheet that kept the party on track from
concept to execution. She shopped for
the grocery, programmed the music, and what she didn’t prepare herself while coaching
our host, she made and then proceeded to give away all the credit.
We
shared sweet counsel. We talked about worship
experiences, memories of church and family gatherings and everything else,
mission trips, our hopes and our dreams.
We shared sweet counsel. We
worked in the kitchen together, sat and laughed around the food, ate too much,
laughed real hard, and were sad to go home.
The invitation to the party didn’t even have a end time, everybody knew
we wouldn’t be leaving at any decent time, and we didn’t.
We
shared sweet counsel. A sweet, sweet
spirit was present in the room, and it abides with me still as I think about
last night. Fellowship. Sweet counsel. Blessings which remind me again that God is
good.
Today’s
Feast: Cream Cheese Frosting Ice Cream
Back
story-When I heard that Exhibit A was making batter for red velvet waffles, I
knew they’d need Cream Cheese Frosting (Ice Cream). What better to go with them than a recipe
inspired by the genius Le
Internet Cooking Princess I discovered online. Once again, I took her frame, and made it my
own. (I just refuse to blindly follow recipes…). I hope you’ll enjoy this as
much as we did.
Ingredients
3
eggs (at room temperature)
½
C powdered sugar
2
C heavy cream
8
oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2
t Vanilla extract
Method
With
a hand mixer, beat the eggs and powdered sugar together in a chilled bowl until
fully. Set aside. Whip the cream cheese,
then slowly add the cream and vanilla until it’s fluffy, but not stiff (you
don’t want butter). Add in the egg
mixture and pour into the ice cream freezer.
After
the mixture is solid, transfer to a sealed container and freeze until ready to
serve.
Tara, loved your story of sweet community among friends. So touching and poignant! Thanks for sharing it, and I think the verse from Psalms fit beautifully. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, how beautiful! Sharing sweet counsel. I love the way you thought about this and honored how lucky friendships and family are to others. Sharing love is what it's all about. Thanks for the recipe too!
ReplyDeleteHappy seeing beautiful!
LOVE THIS! There is nothing more awesome than sharing and spending time with our sweet friends! Learning from one another and holding each other up to the Lord! Many blessings to you Chelle!
ReplyDelete