The Mayonnaise Cake

My Dad liked to cook.  He liked to eat too but that's an altogether different story.  His culinary efforts mainly ran to good old down home cooking like hamburger stew or some kind of macaroni dish.  He wasn't, however, much of a baker.

I'll never forget when I was a very young girl, perhaps 5 or 6, and Daddy and I decided to bake a cake.  He told me he had read about how to make a cake using mayonnaise and it would come out really moist.  

I hopped up on a chair to help and we mixed flour and sugar and cocoa and all the other good things needed to make a chocolate cake.  A hefty dose of mayonnaise rounded out the mixture - all made without benefit of a recipe.

We waited for the cake to bake, and it did smell good and chocolaty.  But when Daddy took that cake out of the pan it was evident there was a problem.  The cake was not just moist - it was so full of oily mayonnaise that you could practically wring it out like a sponge.  Good thing my Dad also had a great sense of humor because that cake (as the kids nowadays would say) was an epic FAIL!!

I've thought about that incident many times in my life and I learned something from it - never make a mayonnaise cake, especially without a recipe!!  I've also learned over the years, that I can learn both from the mistakes of others and from the wise counsel of those I trust.

So often I hear people young and old proclaiming that each of us must make our own mistakes.  Think about that for a minute.  Do we put someone behind the wheel of a car with no instructions and tell them to drive?  They'll learn how to steer when they run into a few cars or block walls!  Do we  give 10 year olds the family check book and expect them to keep track of expenses and pay all the bills on time?

These things, and so much more, must be taught from those who have experience.  Sure, no one can completely teach another all there is to know and prevent that person from making mistakes.  But we do NOT all have to make the same mistakes.  We can learn from others.  You do not have to stick your hand into the flame to learn that fire is hot.

We all must make our own decisions but that is not the same as making our own mistakes.  The first chapter of Proverbs begs for young people to learn to be wise and to accept correction.  The writer admonishes young people to listen to their parents and become wise.  Even those who are already wise can benefit from the Proverbs of the Bible.

Proverbs, Chapter 1 warns us that there are evil people in the world who will try and entice young people into doing things they shouldn't do.  On the other hand, wisdom is all around us.  It is crying out to be heard and become a part of our lives.  Do we remain as fools or do we listen and learn and become wise?

Young people especially want to make their own mistakes but so often they don't realize the sometimes tragic consequences of those mistakes.  My heart aches for my grand children who are coming into young adult hood.  Would that they could see the benefit of finding wisdom and learning from others.  There are no do-overs in life and some mistakes have life changing consequences which cannot be undone.

Young people, you do NOT need to make all your own mistakes.  You can avoid so much if you will only listen and learn and seek wise counsel.  The last two verses of Proverbs 1 state this so clearly: (NIV) ³² For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
    and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
³³ but whoever listens to me will live in safety
    and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

(The "me" in the above reference is referring to Wisdom)

Don't choose to live the life of a fool - choose wisdom and learn to be wise.