Trial by Fire

James 3:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This morning I had planned on writing about a particular subject matter and the holy tap on the shoulder changed all that. My Bible reading gave me the scripture and words ‘making bread’.

The first step is to dissolve the dry yeast in warm, tepid water and a little sugar. Tepid water is water that is warmer than lukewarm, but not real hot to the touch. The next step is to put 2 1/4 cups of water, and 3/4 cup of milk into a saucepan, put it on the stove, and heat it to scalding. After the water and milk is scalded, add 6 tablespoons of shortening, 6 tablespoons of sugar, and 3 teaspoons of salt. Mix that together until it's melted, and then put it aside to cool. After cooled, add the yeast mixture and stir it together. Okay, we're ready to add our flour. Start out with about 3 to 4 cups, and mix in enough flour until it's too thick to stir. When too thick to stir, you'll want to turn it out onto your surface. Put the rest of your flour into the middle of your surface, and then pour your dough into the flour. And using your hands, you'll want to knead that flour into your dough, and you just keep kneading and kneading and kneading until the flour's gone. And when your dough is elastic and not sticking to your hands and not sticking to the surface, then it's ready. If it's not, you'll want to add a little bit more flour until you get that right consistency. Take the dough that you just kneaded and put it into a large, greased, bowl. Cover it with a clean cloth, and put it into a warm place, and let it rise until double. Sometimes it'll take up to 90 minutes. After it's risen to double, you take your fist, and you punch it down. Now you're ready to form your loaves. Using your hands, you take the dough and you form it into a long roll to fit the pan. After you've formed your loaves, you will let rise until it's double or into the shape you want. After it's risen, you take a toothpick, and very gently poke a few holes down the middle of the bread. Bake them for approximately 30 minutes. Take your bread out of the oven, and let it set for about one minute. And once you have the bread out, you'll want to brush the top with a little butter. Let the bread completely cool before you cut it. And that is how to make bread by hand.

After reading the recipe for making bread I understood why it went with the scripture. You really have to persevere to get flour and yeast to be a loaf of life giving bread. Added with the sweetness of sugar and usefulness of salt, it goes from a grocery list to sustainable nutrition. It’s in the ‘making’ that all the hard bits happen. I highlighted those to show that making bread can be an analogy for life and the changes we must go through to Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We’ve all felt dissolved and in deep issues heated to scalding. We’ve been mixed together until melted and put aside to cool. Mix in enough heartache until it's too thick to stir. Then our ‘warm’ place for a period of time where we wait for our ‘rising’ only to have circumstance take its fist, and punch su down. We are molded by ‘the Potter’ and set aside to let rise until double. Only then, we are put through the fires of trials and tribulation that Bake them (us), making us mature and complete, not lacking anything.   

When we are being scalded or 'kneaded and kneaded and kneaded', set aside and punched down, it is difficult to remember we are going through a process that will take us from our natural sinful state to something useful to the Lord. That is where the joy comes in! It was bread, you know, Jesus multiplied to feed the thousands…there’s another lesson in that, I see it already!