Daily Bread

In my head, I have an ongoing book project. Perhaps someday I will actually put pen to paper and scribe the thing, but for now, I just keep a mental list of chapters that will be included. I have chapters like Chocolate: Because You Can't Break-Up With Your Kids, and How I Got Off the Crazy Train and Fed My Kids Frozen Waffles. Or, how about I Love Jesus But I Really Like Old School Rap and Math Sucks & Junior High Is Legal Torture: Things I Was Told Were Untrue When I Was 12 That Turned Out To Be 100% Correct.

Knowing I keep this brain file, the other day the hubs quipped, "I have a chapter for your book: Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Baking Bread." I giggled and chalked it up to nothing more than his acknowledgment of our mutual affection of carbs and fat, i.e. bread and butter. I affectionately told him I would add it to the list. But then the idea started to marinate a bit and I realized he was spot on. He usually is, by the way. So, as I was making bread the other day, I began to create a new brain file.

I'll admit it may be somewhat hyperbolic to claim I've learned everything I need to know from baking bread, but there are at least five nuggets of wisdom it has taught me.

1.  Without rest, we cannot rise.

If you have ever baked bread, or even if you are only loosely familiar with the bread baking process, you probably are aware that yeasted bread needs to rise. That is, once you've mixed all your ingredients, the bread needs to rest, undisturbed, in the right environment to allow the yeast to do its magic and for the bread to rise. Sometimes the bread will actually need a double, or second rise to reach the top of the loaf pan and be ready for the heat of the oven. We're no different. We are assaulted daily, sometimes hourly, with fiery trials and tests. Whether it's the smoldering heat of a child who forgot (again) to unload the dishwasher or the white-hot flames of caring for a terminally ill parent, we all face the heat of tribulations. While yes, it is true that God very often uses this for our benefit and growth as we are refined by the fire, without proper rest, we'll never be able to rise to the occasion and withstand the pressures of daily life. But, God knew this too. That's why He gave us the gift of the Sabbath.

"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord." Leviticus 23:3

God, in His infinite wisdom, understood that after six days of toiling, striving, serving, working and pushing ourselves, we would need a period of rest to renew our mind, body, and soul. It is only when we hit the pause button on the busyness of life that we find the time to reflect on what's behind and prepare for what's ahead. Without rest, without taking time away from our normal activities and to-do lists, we'll begin to run on empty and fail to have the capacity to rise up and do all God calls us to do.
Just as different breads require different rises, i.e. variations in time and temperature, so the Sabbath is unique and looks different for everyone. For instance, while it is traditional to Sabbath on Sunday, as a family in full-time ministry, Sunday is a work day for us. We Sabbath on Friday. Moreover, even in my own family, no two of us Sabbath the same way. Erik, for example, works all week with his mind as he writes messages, counsels his flock, disciples the men of our church and teaches and leads his staff. Thus, come Friday, my man is most happy working with his hands doing things like home projects, gunsmithing, and woodworking. By contrast, as a mom I work with my hands all week preparing meals, cleaning, doing laundry and working on various school and craft projects with my daughters. For me, I Sabbath with my mind. My perfect Sabbath involves multiple cups of coffee as I give myself permission to spend long hours reading and writing. The commonality though, whether we Sabbath with our minds or our hands, is meeting with, talking to and connecting with Jesus. The reality is, ultimately, we all find our true place of rest in Christ.

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Colossians 2:16-17

2. Clean as you go.

I love to bake with my daughters. My oldest, Emma, is in the kitchen with me all the time and finds just as much joy in baking as I do, maybe more. One of the first lessons I taught her about baking is "Clean as you go."  Things in the kitchen can get really messy, really quickly. Not only is it uncomfortable to work in a messy kitchen, it can be a little dangerous, right? There's the danger of adding sugar instead of salt, knocking over the glass bowl, tripping as you put the bread in a hot oven or dropping that knife you just sharpened on your toes. Even if you escape the baking process unscathed, at the end of it all, if you have not picked up after yourself, you are inevitably left not just with the promise of freshly, baked bread warm from the oven, but also with a kitchen covered in flour and sticky from oil and sugar.

I find this is true in life as well. We make messes all the time. When I tell my daughter at the end of an exhausting morning that she has character issues because she left her laundry on top of the dryer, yep, I've made a mess. When I snap at the librarian for accusing me, world's most devoted bibliophile, of leaving water damage on the book I just returned, I've left a mess. When I fail to forgive because I've deemed someone unworthy, when I make a joke at the expense of someone else's dignity, when I fail to express gratitude to the people in my life for the gift of undeserved blessings or when I lack the integrity to do what I said I would do when I said I would do it, I am indeed leaving messes in my wake. The question is not will I make messes, I will. The question is how quickly and thoroughly will I clean up the messes I make. In this respect, I have two choices. I can leave my messes, add to my pile of filth and ignore it until the stench gets too great to ignore before I finally decide to something about it. Or, as I advise my daughter, I can clean as I go. I am much better off, as soon as I have offended, to immediately make amends. To seek forgiveness quickly, release the bitterness in my heart and seek restoration without delay is to clean as I go. When messes multiply, whether in the form of sugar and oil or short tempers and pride, they get harder to clean up and their effects, both immediate and lasting, are greater.

   “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God." Matthew 5:23-24    

3. Your hands are your best tools.

I love my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. It was a Christmas gift from my husband nearly ten years ago. Though I often lament that I would prefer to have the larger mixer or a different color (I really, really want the Aqua Sky version...be still my heart), mine works just fine and always gets the job done. Well, almost.

My mixer came with a bread hook, designed to save the muscles of my arms from exhaustion as they perform the necessary kneading to achieve the perfectly soft, chewy bread I so desire. But, the thing is, and I say this not in a prideful manner but in a matter of fact sort of way, the mixer is not better than my own two hands. Without fail, the bread I produce by working the dough with my hands, though I tend to get a little messier, is far superior to the bread made by the machine. When I really get my hands in it and become a part of the process, the result is much more satisfying.

In life, it may not be a matter of letting the "machine" do the work for us so much as it is letting someone else do the work and withdrawing from the process completely.  How often do we sit on the sidelines and make excuses for why we can't serve, can't help, can't meet, can't spare our time? We don't want to get messy. Sacrificing our comfort to serve others seems too hard, too involved. The thing is, it probably is all of those things. We are all called to serve and many times serving is uncomfortable and inconvenient. So we justify, rationalize and make excuses about why we can't be bothered. Believe me, this is not finger-pointing. I'm straight up preaching to myself, sister.  But, make no mistake, God will achieve His purpose and accomplish His mission whether we participate or not. Just as with my mixer, whether I use my hands or let the hook do all the work, bread will get made. The difference is the joy and blessing I receive from participating and becoming part of the final result. Being called to serve, even when it's difficult, is an honor and privilege. We are invited to partner with God to accomplish His mission on earth. Moreover, the blessings of obedience cannot come if I refuse to follow God, no matter where He's leading. Yes, I can let others do the work and the work will get done. But when I get my own hands involved, I become part of the story and my own two hands truly become the hands of Christ. And just like my bread, that friend, is a much more satisfying result.

 "May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands." Psalm 90:17

4. The whole is more than the sum of its parts, but each part is critical.

When I cook or bake, I am a big proponent of "mise en place."  It's a French culinary term meaning "everything in its place." Basically, I read through the recipe and measure all of my ingredients, do any necessary chopping, dicing or mixing and double check to make sure I have all the required components for my recipe before I begin to combine everything. In the case of bread, this includes things like measuring and sifting the flour, dissolving the yeast in warm water, greasing my loaf pan and gently beating my eggs. Once each part of the bread recipe is prepared and in place, only then do I begin to bring them all together to form the dough.  This ritual of preparation ensures that not a single ingredient is forgotten. This is critical because just one missing ingredient produces a bread that is at best not as tasty as it should be and at worst completely ruined. And yet, when I taste my first slice of warm, freshly baked bread, I do not taste one single ingredient. Rather, I taste the beauty of all the pieces of the recipe coming together to be so much more than they could ever be on their own.

This same concept is true of us, the Body of Christ. Each one of us has a unique, personal contribution to make with our time on this earth. Each one of us has been divinely gifted to fulfill a purpose designed and appointed just for us.

 "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers,to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines." 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

And yet, it's when we come together; when we unite and use our individual gifts in a corporate manner and fix our eyes on one purpose that we, too, become more than the sum of our parts. When my unique gift is combined with yours and we pair our gifts with gifts of our sisters in Christ, the result grows exponentially. And, in his infinite wisdom, God did not make one gift more important, more noticeable or more glorifying. indeed, when we come together as one body, it is for the one purpose of advancing God's Kingdom. All of our individual gifts, while critical, are woven together to form the larger tapestry expressing the love of Christ.

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so, the body is not made up of one part but of many." 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." 1 Corinthians 12:27

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:10-11

 5. Bread is meant to be shared.

While I could eat a whole loaf of bread alone, it would not be advisable for a number of reasons. First, there are the obvious consequences of over-consumption. Often, in life, what is good in small amounts is painful in large doses. However, moving beyond the physical ramifications, there is also the undeniable fact that bread, when broken with friends and family around my dining table and paired with large helpings of laughter and conversation, always tastes better. Always. This is true because this is how we are designed. We were created to be in community and doing life with each other.

My pastor reminds us often that growth happens in circles, not in rows. That is, sitting in our seats in church we can receive inspiration, but it is only when we dare to be vulnerable by inviting others into our homes and hearts that we experience transformation. At our deepest core, we all have a desire to be fully known. We want others to comfort us through our struggles and rejoice in our victories. We can live life alone and survive. We cannot live life alone and thrive. It is only when we share our stories, failures, and victories that we begin to experience the unity and community Christ desired for His bride. When we break bread we are able to share pieces of the whole with those around us. When we dare to share the pieces of our brokenness with one another, we begin to receive the healing that can restore wholeness.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Hebrews 10:24-25

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ..." Acts 2:24-27