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“appew jats and chocate meelk”, which translated is “apple jacks and chocolate milk.” Who knew that this simple, and common request from my two year old would result in a heavenly inspiration for a blog today.
I have been wanting to get back into writing since the moment 5 months ago, when God spoke clearly and told me to leave my decent paying employment, to pursue my priceless calling.
I want my writings to be worship unto my King, so, I cant just write about anything anytime. So, this morning, I am writing about a two year old’s dutchy request…”appew jats and chocate meelk”. Stay with me.
This morning, promptly after Elcee announced from her crib that she had “poopied everywhere”, I got her dressed and asked her the question I ask her every morning after she falsely proclaims that she has either pooped or peed everywhere, “Would you like some breakfast?” She responded, “um…yes. Appew jats and chocate meelk.”
So like the amazing mother that I am, I sugared up her drink with Hershey’s goodness and made her a hefty helping of her seemingly favorite breakfast cereal.
And the mom of the year award goes to….me.
Of course.
Not long after, my oldest daughter, Adlee awoke from her slumber and didn’t wait for the question, she simply stated, “I’m hungry, I want cinnamon toast crunch.”
Before I go any further, let me just answer the questions you are already asking yourself.
Yes, we do have a variety of very not healthy choices of breakfast foods.
Yes, we feed them to our children.
Yes, Michelle Obama is hanging her heard in disappointment.
Back to the sweet story.
The very MOMENT Adlee announced her choice of breakfast, Elcee instantly became an Appew Jats hater and an avid cinnamon toast crunch spokeswoman proclaiming her loyalties to the rivaling sugar coated puffs of air.
And in this moment, as crazy as it seems, God spoke to me. And, I was beginnging to see a comparison unfold between my two year old’s cereal conundrum, and prayer.
Hang with me, it will get sweeter. I promise.
In this moment, when I had to tell Elcee, “no, you asked for apple jacks, so you need to eat the apple jacks. We are not going to waste them.” I realized this is exactly how God has to deal with us in our prayers.
Last night, in the bible study that we host in our home for students each week, we talked about prayers. We were actually going over Revelation. But, we paused for some time to talk about Revelation 5:8 “…Each one (the twenty-four elders) had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of inscence, which are the prayers of God’s people.”
We talked about all to often we pray and we feel like praying doesn’t really make a difference. Praying doesn’t really effect anything. We know there is a God, and that He hears us, but, He doesn’t actually listen.
But right here, it tells us what God thinks of our prayers. He thinks they are worthy to go in the most pretigious made bowls, and burned to create a sweet aroma to the King. You see, our prayers, to Him, are sweeter than any “appew jats” or cinnamon toast crunch could ever dream of being.
So, how does prayer relate to my child’s request for cereal?
I’m glad you asked….
and that you’re still reading to try and figure out this dysfunctional train of thought.
Because we don’t realize how seriously God takes our prayers, we often times don’t really reflect on the prayers we are putting in those gold bowls.
Now, please understand, having a relationship with Jesus Christ enables us to pray about anything and everything, even if it seems small.
I am not implying that we need to have deep reflection about the prayers that we are sending to heaven because we don’t want to fill those gold bowls with the off-brand “apple puffs” rather than “Apple Jacks” for prayers.
No. No. No.
What I am saying is this.
God ALWAYS answers prayers.
ALWAYS.
Not just the name brand prayers prayed by the most well known evangelists, pastors, and worshipers. Not just on Sundays and Wednesdays IF you are in church when you pray them. Not just for the overachievers that attend EVERY church event.
No.
God HEARS every prayer.
and
God ANSWERS every prayer.
Just not always in the way we think they need to be answered.
Elcee asked me for apple jacks and chocolate milk. And, I gave her exactly what she wanted. But, when she saw that her sister was asking for something else, her requests suddenly changed. And, I gave Adlee the cinnamon toast crunch. But, I had to sit down with Elcee and explain that we could not waste what she already asked for, and that she needed to eat her apple jacks.
Have you been wasting the blessings in your own life because you are coveting someone else’s blessing?
Our prayers sit in gold bowls. Are prayers are refined by the fire of the holy spirit and are sent to God himself as a sweet aroma.
This analogy from my daughters can be viewed from a different angle too.
Elcee asked for a sugary cereal AND chocolate milk.
Adlee asked only for a sugary cereal.
Elcee had the true faith of a child in her request.
Any normal thinking person watching this unfold would say “there is no way she is going to give her daughter BOTH. Nah. That little girl has high hopes, but, nope, not gonna happen.”
But, being the upstanding mother that I am, I gave her EXACTLY what she asked for. But before you go calling Child Services on me, just remember, I was unknowingly teaching Elcee a profound lesson about our Daddy in Heaven.
There is no request too big for Heaven. There is nothing that God looks at and says,
“Wow…No. Too big for Me to handle that. Are you CRAZY? There is no way that could ever happen.”
You see, I think if we really thought about the TRUTH that God will answer every prayer.
We would dream bigger
search deeper
reach higher and
go farther.
If God answers EVERY prayer, why do we settle asking Him for the things that we are pretty sure He would give us?
I could pray for my uncle to be healed of the Stage 4 cancer, but that’s unlikely, so I’ll just pray for him to feel no pain.
I could pray that I could bring my family to know Jesus, but, they hate me, so I’ll just pray that someone else will hopefully do it.
I could pray that my finances would be blessed, but, I know the realities of this situation, so I will just stop tithing.
I could pray that my illness would be healed completely, but, I’ve had it all my life, so I will just ask for “His will to be done.”
I could pray that the dead would be raised back to life, but I would sound utterly crazy, so I will just pray for “peace that passes all understanding”.
I think the prayers in the gold bowls could have a way stronger and more profound aroma if we dared to see God for who He really is, and begin to Ask. Seek. and Knock.
Matthew 7:7
When the prayers that we pray ASK God for the impossible
and we Begin to truly SEEK His heart
I believe that our prayers can KNOCK down any
situation
obstacle
mountain
addiction
struggle or
impossibility that stands in our way.
God wants to give us the Apple Jacks AND chocolate milk.
Stay Tuned for Profound Thoughts,
Ashlee
ashleemullin.com 
When I was in school (this would've been late 80's early 90's) a lot of us would do this for breakfast. I don't remember who in our group started it but we all did it every morning and it was good. I still sometimes have apple jacks in chocolate milk.
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