Biblical Baking

Biblical Baking

Recently our children have been arguing over who completes what chore and which one is more desirable. I decided to take the quarrel to the Bible. Going to Nehemiah, I shared with the young ones how God called the Israelites to rebuild and gave each person very specific tasks. Some of them were not as exciting as others. For instance, guarding the dung gate would not necessarily thrill me to pieces. However, it does have its rewards. I imagine many people would avoid it, even enemies. You may be safer their.
We can find fantastic lessons in Nehemiah on the rolls of each member of a body. God made it very clear that we each have a significant part to play in carrying out His will. However, if we choose to not obey, that does not mean His will is not going to come to fruition. To the contrary, God's will is going to always be completed with or without us. If we choose to ignore His calling or commands then we will be left out of experiencing the added blessings He has to offer. What if you are not a grand, talented, powerful, or in the front of the scenes kind of person? God has not called everyone to be in the lime light. He has not called everyone to be missionaries in Africa, China, or across the world. God realizes the mechanics it takes to build a functional and working team that can reach the world. If everyone were missionaries there would be no one left to teach and minister to those left back home. If everyone were to teach, there would be no one to teach. As the parable goes about the body; if the body consisted just of hands it would not be functional, or just of eyes. Or, if every part of the body tried to perform the function of the foot, imagine how awkward and non-functional that would be. Obviously and eye cannot perform the tasks of a foot. The eye is for seeing, the foot is for walking. They both have very specific purposes, both are created differently to enable the functionality. Together, performing their individual job they can help us walk.
To get this point across to children can be a rather challenging task. I am a hands-on learner, therefore I think in that capacity when trying to teach. So, to the kitchen. We were going to bake cinnamon rolls. I prepared all of the ingredients and sat them out. They were so excited to make cinnamon rolls as they are so tasty. A child's mind does not realize that the individual ingredients do not taste like the finished product. They each immediately began shouting out which job they wanted to perform and as usual, it was the same job. Just as I had planned, on cue, a great opportunity for hands-on learning. I began to share the story of Nehemiah with them as well as the body having many parts but each having a single primary function. I explained how together, with team work, they perform beautifully and functionally. So, I asked them who would like to be the baking soda? Soda? (Our children rarely get soda). Mmmm. "Me, me, me!" I poured some baking soda into a spoon and asked them to close their eyes and stick out their tongue. They each got a taste. Now, who would like to be the baking soda? No one answered. I just received a few snarled looks. Fine, I will be the baking soda. This went on with each ingredient. I asked them how they liked each ingredient and which one was their favorite. Of course the sugar won the flavor award. As each child added their ingredients the dough began to come along nicely. I set aside a small amount of dough. Then I asked them who wanted to knead the the rest. Excitement rang out. I allowed the youngest to go first, it would be easier in the beginning. She did not last long. Then the next one. Lastly, I asked my son to knead the dough. I just smiled as each of them realized how hard it was and how quickly their little hands got so tired. They asked me why did we have to knead the dough and can we just skip that part. I explained the necessity of it and what would happen if we left it out. I took out the small amount that I had set aside and suggested we not knead that one and see what happens. They anxiously watched the dough to see it rise. After about thirty seconds boredom set in and they ran off to play. A little while later they remembered the dough and checked on it. Wide eyed, they came running to me. "Mommy, mommy, it worked. It grew. Are the cinnamon rolls ready to eat now?" I let them taste a smidgen of it. They agreed they were not quite ready, baking was still needed. I then pulled out the small amount that had not been kneaded. It had not risen very much at all. We proceeded with creating the rolls and placed them in the oven. We iced them with home made icing. I also let them perform the ingredient taste test for this. Amazingly enough, the individual ingredients did not do so well. The milk was probably the safest. The vanilla was too strong by itself. The powdered sugar was just awkward, but tasted fine. The end result, the iced cinnamon rolls were the winner. The unkneaded were flat and not as gdelectable, but tasted the same. We discussed how each ingredient alone may not have tasted great but was very important in creating such a tasty treat. If we had left just one ingredient out we would have ended up with something totally different and not nearly as good. Not all jobs were as glamorous as originally thought to be. Icing the rolls became the favorite. Kneading the dough was the toughest. I explained to my children that just like baking rolls a family has ingredients. We each must do our share or job. While it may not be the grandest job, it is necessary. If someone's job is to load the dishwasher, someone has the job of putting the detergent in, and then someone else must turn it on, all three jobs are vitally important. If one person fails to their job we will not have clean dishes to eat our tasty cinnamon rolls on the next morning. The whole family relies on each other. I then took it to the church and explained the church works in the same way. Not everyone gets to be on the stage. Not everyone wants to be on the stage. If there is no one willing to build the stage, then it does not really matter anyhow.
So, Biblical baking taught us each a very valuable lesson that we will probably never forget. I hope. Or, maybe we shall just keep baking. May God bless you and may God bless America.
(I did not have pictures of us baking cinnamon rolls)