A Slice of Pie.

Life is like a pie. We have a whole one and claim most of it, as our own, when we are young. As we grow older we begin to cut our pie up into pieces and hand it out. One slice to our employer, a slice to our children and spouse, a slice to those to whom we owe money... and so on... and so on. The pie slowly and surely gets eaten up.

What is in the life-pie? It is made up of all that we are and all that we do. The pie is filled with chunks of the fruit of who we are and what we have, floating in a rich gel of what we value. It is all held together in a crust of what we do. The pie is what we produce and why we produce it.

Like any pie, the purpose is not for it to decorate our homes by leaving pies in silver tins sitting around the house, and standing from afar and admiring it’s beauty. No! We don’t bake pies to beautify our homes. Pie is to be eaten. Pie is to be served! The joy of pie is in the experience and sensation of the taste it provides and often it’s joy is found in the fulfillment of sharing it. Many of us know the pure joy there is in hearing someone say, “Wow! That was delicious!” We have felt the warmth of sitting across the table with a steaming cup of java and sharing a piece of pie with a friend. There in those few minutes pie is more than pie, it becomes part of a moment and it’s value becomes much greater than any recipe could describe or tongue could taste.

This pie of life is ours, it was given for us to hold but it’s worth it is really not found in the recipe or what we have still in the pan but in how much of it we give away. 

Many times we sit down and look at the pie. We hold the knife in our hands and calculate how to divvy out the pieces. There are people who are demanding pieces, to which we must oblige. There are things that need more pie than others, but we still understand there is only one pie. It troubles us that perhaps when all is said and done, there will not be a piece on our plate.  

Unlike real pie, the pieces of the pie of life can be changed. The pieces can be made larger or smaller. Once plated they can be taken back and adjusted. But we are still confronted with the whole. We have only one pie and how to cut it, or re-cut it is the challenge. The bigger the piece we give to one, constitutes that a smaller piece will be given to another. There is only one pie. Cutting pie is the dilemma of life. There never seems to be enough pie.

So what is the secret of pie cutting, when everyone is hungry, and there is a line around the block for a share? How do we stretch a pie? We can’t bake another one. So what do we do? 

Jesus at one point had possibly thousands of followers. He chose twelve. There were times when Jesus took just three aside. Someone once said that Jesus knew how to “take from the rest to give to the best.” Maybe this is the secret to pie cutting. There is not enough pie for everything in your life. So, there comes a time, with knife in hand, for value-calls. How can you give pie to the best? 

When we invest our money we spend time looking for the place that we can get the best return on our investment. But when we invest our lives, do we ask the same questions? Do we invest our lives, or spend our lives? Spending seldom is about return. It seldom looks out and sees long-term goals or is concerned with the impact it makes. We can nickle and dime our lives away and suddenly realize that our resources (our pieces) are gone and we have nothing to show for it. Investing, on the other hand, show an increase. 

Jesus gave an example of how God looks at investment. (see Matthew 25:14-30) I think this story illustrates what God wants to happen in our lives. He expects a return for what He has given us. How do we get that return? If you read on to the end of the chapter, I think He answers this question. In so many words, Jesus boils this down to, not so much the return on the investment, but that the investment was made. Jesus notes in these passages how valuable it is to God that we invest.

Your pie, my pie, is all we have to invest. I can let it sit on the counter until it is green with mold and stinks of rotted fruit or I can hand it out. And who gets it. That is where the investment part comes in. The pie goes where it gives the greatest return... it goes to the best. What is the best? By reading the scriptures we can begin to see what God thinks are valuable investments. Jesus tells us (Matthew 6:19-21) that we can invest in things that we see are important or things that God sees are important.

So, look at your pie. Who is getting a piece? Maybe you should even sit down with a piece of paper and draw out your pie. Label the pieces and honestly access which pieces are investments and which are being wasted. (Perhaps divide it like a clock and see the time you invest in certain areas.) As you look at the pieces, notice how big the pieces are that are labeled “service to God,” “kingdom work,” “helping people in my world,” “my children and family,” ”devotional time,” “time given to the church.” As you survey your pie, you will begin to see, not only who is getting a piece, and if you are giving it away, but also, what kind of pie you have.

If your pie is about how many pieces you have for yourself, then you and God have a very different understanding what this pie, this life, is about. Realize, though, that at anytime you can reshape the pieces. You may have to tell somethings, or someone that they don’t get pie. You may have to make the pieces smaller so that others can have larger pieces. The pie is your to serve.

As time goes on our pie gets smaller. We have less to give. The pieces become more valuable and giving what is left more important. 

So who and what is tasting your pie? Ask yourself this hard question, ask for God’s revelation and help... and take out the knife and start cutting.

And what about all those things in life that demand a piece but really don’t need it? Let them eat cake!