Baking.

-
I love to bake. I love baking cookies, cakes, pastries, cupcakes, loafs. . . (well not so much a loaf) but I do love to bake.

It's fun to mix all the sugar, flour (whole and wheat) with butter, egg substitute and spices. I enjoy tasting the batter, the dough and the filling. I am not a big fan of rolling out dough or cutting it to the right shape but I enjoy filling it with goodies or pouring it into fun cake pans.

What makes the difference between cooking and baking is the part where I put the item into theoven.

Ahhh. It is here that I learn to rest. To wait. To clean up my dishes -- because I have the time. Usually there is plenty of time to clean up and sit and wait. It is in this waiting that I can relax. There is nothing more I can do to the dough, batter or filling. It is wait time. Just wait.

I think I like it because I struggle with the waiting part in my personal life. I have a hard time putting everything I have been working on with God in my life into His hands. All my education, my heart, my jobs, my passion, my wants for a future, my friendships and my hopes are all mixed up in the bowl, poured into the cake pan and given to God to bake and now I sit and wait. It's wait time. Just wait.

Andrew Murray, in his book, Waiting on God, has so many wonderful things to say that encourage me to wait.

  • Let the heart wait at times in perfect silence and quiet; in its hidden depths God will work. Be sure of this, and just wait on Him. Give your whole heart, with its secret workings, into God's hands continually. 46
  • This is the blessedness of waiting upon God, that it takes our eyes and thoughts away from ourselves. 47
  • Nothing was ever so sure as that waiting on God will bring us untold and unexpected blessing. 40
  • Resting in Him is nothing but being silent unto Him, still before Him. Having our thoughts and wishes, our fears and hopes, hushed into calm and quite in that great peace of God which passes all understanding. 52
So bake away God, I will be here waiting to know what to do next.

    Comments

    Andrea said…
    Oui, Lexi. You sure do learn bon lessons in the bakery. I think you should think about starting a wedding cake business, and look for a guy named Dan...

    Heehee..but really, good lessons about waiting. Thanks for sharing.
    January 24, 2011 at 11:33 PM
    Experience: part of a balanced life said…
    buddy,
    did you read the poem i posted on 1-23-11??? called "ah, now i see?"
    you'll LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

    love you buddy!
    see you this weekend? he he
    January 25, 2011 at 5:43 AM
    Experience: part of a balanced life said…
    buddy,
    did you read the poem i posted on 1-23-11??? called "ah, now i see?"
    you'll LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

    love you buddy!
    see you this weekend? he he
    January 25, 2011 at 5:43 AM
    Kristin said…
    I love to bake as well, so I really love this analogy. Thanks for sharing :) Hopefully when I bake now it will remind me to wait and trust in God.
    January 25, 2011 at 6:00 AM
    Paulette said…
    This had me look at cooking and baking from a different angle. Nice twist.
    January 25, 2011 at 2:34 PM
    Jana May said…
    I like the thoughts you provoke :)

    God's timing is perfect. He will never overbake us dry or underbake us raw. God's timing is often what leaves me the most in awe of Him, or at least what I can see most clearly.

    Thanks, friend :)
    January 26, 2011 at 4:08 PM
    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Tales from an exile

    -
    Well today the majority of the students have been gone from the school leaving me and just a very tiny group of working students and green house workers to run the place. I must be honest I wasn't very excited about being left behind while everyone else went to an faraway land to do mission work. Especially because one group was going to Honduras, the very first place I lived outside of America. I would have LOVED to visit my old home at El Hogar de Ninos. But alas I was left here to 'run' things. After I saw the light of all the fun, Kaisa, Tiina and I could have I began to get excited. So now after a week I would love to tell you about our tales. All week I worked doing things from cataloging library books, covering new books, planning my recruiting trip through Scandinavia, cooking in the kitchen, taking the trash out and cleaning Solhoug down the hill. The days have been diverse enough and I have been able to listen to great music and books on tape. (a side note about t
    Read more

    Phase 2

    -
    Image
    I am on the move again. I know that I'm hard to get ahold of or that I'm always going somewhere new but this time I'm not. I'm going back to a place I've been before, a place that I have called home. I'm moving to Oakhurst, California. The town right outside the Southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. I am their new Kindergarden teacher. That's right, a bunch of little kids and I are going to learn together We are going to conquer the world of colors, numbers and letters. We will go where no other 5 and 6 year old have gone before! We will explore the outdoors, our imaginations and the world of knowledge. It is going to be grand. After I finish up here in Arizona I'm heading up and over, school starts in a little bit and I've got a classroom to prepare. God is good. "For I know the plans I have for you, "says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you hope and a future ." Jeremiah 29:1
    Read more

    Almost nearly perfectly content.

    -
    Tonight was great. I finally have my own kitchen and now I finally have my own food to cook. I went shopping yesterday (which will have to wait till the next story to tell about those adventures) and bought a few staple items. Included in those things was an avocado which I was given. I decided tonight to check that avocado for ripeness and found it to be the perfect time for it to be devoured. Then that's what I decided to do, I cut it up and put it on a plate. Then I realized I had nothing else to put on it. . . until it hit me like a speeding train, "I have onions I can put with it." Then I realized I can also put some of my diced tomatoes with it to to make a salsa. After mixing it all up and being ready to eat I realized something else. . . who would want to eat it just like this by itself. Here's where it gets really exciting. I got out my flour and salt and baking powder, mixed it in a bowl and made tortillas. It was fantastic. I haven't felt this self rel
    Read more