As many know, I have worked at Godiva this past semester, and loved it. Upon getting hired on, I assumed it was simply retail but with an expensive brand of chocolate. Little did I know it was much more involved. My first day as I watched the videos which were made to prepare me for entering a new world of chocolate, I realized there was much I was ignorant on. I was trained in where and how chocolate is made, what each piece was termed, and how to pronounce “praline” and “fondant” which were contrary to how I had been saying those words. I have appreciated the experience to work in a more professional atmosphere. I was blessed with some dedicated coworkers and an understanding manager. Both the coworkers and customers made it an experience that I will not soon forget. One of my favorite facets of my job would be the theatre. The theatre is our dipping station where it automatically keeps the chocolate tempered and ready to use. A long table is stationed in front of the store front window with three tempering machines placed inside. Each one slowly heats and turns the chocolate so we can dip the freshly ripe strawberries and watch as the passersby become entranced and drool over them. Not sure if it more entertaining for the customers or the chocolatiers.
As I was dipping the strawberries one day, I realized that they were not coating properly as they should so I asked my manager and with one look at the temper machine she knew what was wrong. She told me the temperature was not right, to turn it up a degree, wait a few minutes, and try again. I did just that and the entire consistency of the chocolate changed. It not only covered the chocolate, but it was also the silky, smooth chocolate that it was supposed to be. Recently I noticed a book displayed on a shelf in the store which I thought was odd as we do not sell things that are not edible. However, the cover caught my eye. On an exceptionally slow day I picked it up and flipped through it. The concept proposed in the book blew my mind and I continued to think on it for quite a while as it kept coming back to me. You may have read the book or seen the short film called 212 degrees. This was the title of the book that was tweaked specifically for Godiva. The beginning pages read as follows, “At 211*, the water is hot… at 212*, it boils. And with boiling water comes steam. And with steam you can power a locomotive. It’s the extra degree that makes all the difference.” Following that day, I looked at a lot of statistics and articles on this thought. There is a freezing point for water. The difference between a cold, gloomy, rainy day and a winter wonderland can be a single degree in the temperature. The average margin of victory for the last 25 years of golf is less than 3 strokes. The margin between gold medal and no medal at all can be 100th’s of a second. While an airplane just one degree off course gets 92 feet off for every mile it travels. After traveling 60 miles, you miss your mark by an entire mile. My question is what is your one degree? What are you holding back or not giving your all? Where could you turn things up for that one extra degree? What is it that you are allowing to squelch your zeal and prevent you from being completely sold-out for God? Personally, one of the ways this thought hit me would be this…I do not always stress out over the big stuff in life, but I will almost always get worked up over the little things. In that moment, I can allow those little, insignificant things be the “one degree” that I allow to cool my fire of trust. Revelation 3.15-16, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” We are all willing to turn up the heat… it can be popular at times… but only to a certain point. However it is only at that point that you can fully be used by God to the extent that He made you to be. The chocolate that I was using as I described earlier, it was hot, I could have used it. It would have done the job of coating the strawberries, but not to the best it could. It would not have looked good, and I would have known that they could have looked and been so much better. It is only when you turn the heat up that extra degree your life softens and is mold-able to be used in exactly the way you were made to be. It is only natural when we are close to God as we should be that we become “on fire” for Him. “And they said one to another. Did not our heart burn with us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” -Luke 24.32
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Lizzy parkerMarriage.
Motherhood. Ministry. Missions. Archives
January 2023
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