Be the Chocolate Chip

I have a confession to make. In my foodie world, nothing compares to the joy of a perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie. I’ve had my fair share of them -- store-bought, homemade, you name it. But, if you ask me, Hilton's Doubletree Hotel still holds the crown. There’s something special about biting into one of their warm, gooey, chocolate-laden masterpieces.

But let’s be honest -- this blog isn’t just about my love affair with chocolate chip cookies. It’s about what those delightful little chips can teach us.

In any good chocolate chip cookie recipe, we start with the basics: flour, salt, brown sugar, butter, baking soda. Mix them together, and we get a dough that's nearly impossible to tell one ingredient from another. But add in those chocolate chips, and suddenly, we have something special. Yum!

That’s why I gravitate towards the cookies loaded with chips! They’re the stars of the show and I keep going back for "just one more"!

This idea of standing out is beautifully captured in Jan Brewer and Amy Stucky’s book, "Be the Chocolate Chip". They write, "You can be the chocolate chip. You can choose to be 'in the cookie, but not of the cookie.' Just as the chocolate chip made the cookie better by retaining its true nature, you can make the world better by retaining your true nature as a follower of Christ.

You don't have to be something or someone else. You don't have to melt into the crowd; you can be the chocolate chip! You will get noticed for being different. You will stand out. That is what makes all the difference, and is what makes a chocolate chip cookie so great. What good would it be without the chocolate chip? Be you. Be different. Be better. Be the chocolate chip!"

I couldn’t have said it better myself. But I will add this: God’s Word encourages us to stand out in Romans 12:2—"And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good, and acceptable, and the perfect will of God."

So, let’s be the cookies that draw others in with our warmth, our light, our kind and encouraging words, and our smiles. Sure, we might be different from all the other cookies in the store (or the world), but that’s precisely what makes us so irresistible. When we shine brightly and live authentically, others will want to be chocolate chips, too!