Fountain of Thoughts: Bread Making

Do you ever wonder why your spiritual life seems to be going absolutely no where? Why you don't feel like you are maturing spiritually? I'm sorry to say that this is the way I feel many times.

One of my favorite 'sermons' outside of church is actually a work of fiction. In play, Polly Milton in An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott, gives a short sermon on plum cake.

"Life, my brethren, (she proclaims) is like plum cake. In some the plums are all on the top and we eat them gaily, till we suddenly find they are gone. In others, the plums sink to the bottom and we look for them in vain as we go on, and often come to them when it is too late to enjoy them. But in the well-made cake, the plums are wisely scattered all through, and every mouthful is a pleasure. We make our own cakes, in a great measure, therefore let us look to it, my brethren, that they are mixed according to the best recipe, baked in a well-regulated oven, and gratefully eaten with a temperate appetite."

As I was randomly thinking about random things the other night, I thought of these random verses in Jermiah 18. They're the famous ones about the potter and the clay. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

Since I know very little about pottery and potters, I randomly decided to loosely translate the verses into something I did understand. I picked baking since I had made a loaf of bread earlier that day. It was a delicious cinnamon raisin bread, for those who are wondering.

Following the example of Polly Milton my thoughts ran thus: Life, (I thought) is like a loaf of bread. When we're feeling that life is ok and going pretty well but is maybe a little dull, that's when God is measuring the flour and baking powder and other little tasteless necessaries. He may also be measuring the vital, but small amount of yeast.

When life becomes tough and we feel like everyone is against us, it's probably because He's turned on the bread machine and we're being mixed and kneaded. And the process is still necessary. I read just minutes after this thought in Ecclesiastes 11. It says there that we are to make sure and "remember the days of darkness." They're good for us.

And now I come to thought which came to me first and was the central one in my mind.
When it feels like nothing is happening, like we're not maturing or growing, that is when the bread is rising. The process of rising a bread is so slow, and so subtle, that most of the time, we can't see it grow minute by minute. It seems as though nothing is happening, when in reality we are in the process of growing double and maybe triple our original size. Furthermore, rising bread requires warmth. It isn't usually incredibly hot, but it is pretty warm. Often, when I feel like I'm not growing, I also feel stress and pressure to be growing. I become frustrated. But, maybe that too is a part of the process. Maybe that pressure and frustration is the required heat.

I love the verses all over in the Bible, but particularly in Ephesians where it speaks about the church being fitly framed and joined together with precious stones, (Jesus being the corner stone) and it grows into a holy temple and habitation of God. God doesn't do things all at once most of the time. He starts with a foundation and slowly builds onto it. And by the way, He always starts at the beginning, not in the middle.

Without the boring ingredients such as flour, salt, and yeast, a delicious loaf of bread would not be possible. Without the kneading and mixing, the loaf would be tasteless and crumbly. Without the rising, the bread would be flat, and heavy. But you can't rise the bread before you mix it, and you can't mix it without putting the ingredients in first. Each step has to come in order.

Isn't God good. He knows that after long periods of rising we can get pretty frustrated. Trials seem to come all at once, but they rarely last forever and ever. He intersperses His blessing with His tests. When we're feeling particularly blessed and excited about His Word etc. He's adding the cinnamon and raisins at the beeps. (I don't know if all bread machines beep in the middle so you can add those ingredients, but ours does, so the analogy holds.)

And then of course, we coming to the baking. That's often really tough. But it's the time when our faith becomes stronger. We're no longer moldable dough that can be turned and twisted any direction. The fiber in the dough is brought out and strenghthened as it cooks to become crusty and strong on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. When we're being baked, we often only look at the intense heat we're being subjected to. But in reality, we're learning to 'stand firm.'

After all that heat, we may be so hot that people won't come near us. God uses the time of cooling to temper our faith and maybe chip off some rough edges. And finally, we get the reward. The baker gets to eat his/her bread. Isn't that rewarding! (And man does it taste good!)Hopefully, we won't truly get eaten. But we will get our reward in heaven. I look forward to the day when He will say, "well done, thou good and faithful servant."

(This has been: Fountain of Thoughts. Look in next time to read: A Day in the Life of:__)