Lemon Meringue Pie

      We have many "firsts" in our lives.  I'm sure you can look back over your life and remember some of those special times.  Some of the memories are sweet, some humorous, and some embarrassing.  I'd like to share with you two of my firsts!
     John was going to be our FIRST dinner guest.  Never had I served a meal as a "Pastor's wife."  Filled with excitement, I nervously prepared the meal.  This meal had to be perfect!
     I don't remember what I served for dinner but I do remember dessert.  My lemon meringue pie would be the perfect dessert.  I loved to make pies!  As a little girl, my mother taught me to make pies with tender, flaky crusts.
    Dinner went well.  John loved the meal!  The children behaved well and no one spilled anything.  Finally, the time had come to serve my beautiful, picture perfect, lemon meringue pie.  I was home free.  Dinner was a success!
     John remarked, "Your pie looks wonderful.  I can hardly wait to taste it."  Pride filled my heart as my husband cut and served the pie.  I waited for John to exclaim, "This pie is delicious," but he just sat there with a strange look on his face.  Finally, he said, "Your pie is a little tart!"  By then, my husband had tasted the pie.  He wasn't nearly as tactful.  "Did you leave anything out of this?" he asked.  Finally, the children added, "Mommy this tastes awful!"
     Evidently, I had left out one important ingredient, SUGAR.  Lemon pie without SUGAR is TART.  Filled with embarrassment, I wanted to run and hide.  I had failed!  This FIRST ruined my perfect dinner.
     Soon we were all laughing about the pie.  For many years, John teased me about that first pie.  Whenever I looked a little "out of sorts", John would ask if I had been eating lemon meringue pie.
     How could anything that looked so good taste so sour? Our lives can look "picture perfect" on the outside, but on the inside there can be bitterness and emptiness.  We can say the right words, do all the right things, and even fool those closest to us.  But, who are we really deceiving?
     Remember in 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord said to Samuel: "...For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  What a challenge to know that God sees what's in our hearts.
     Can we do anything less than lay our lives before the Lord?  Anything less than pray as David did in Psalm 139:23,24?  "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
     How can we develop and maintain a right heart attitude? There are no new secrets, only a reminder of some wonderful old truths.  "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." (Psalm 119:11)  God's Word keeps us from sin and teaches us how to live.  We need to acquire a taste for God's Word.  It will produce sweetness in our lives.  "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103)
     It is my prayer that the sweetness God's Word produces in our hearts will be demonstrated in our lives every day.