Everything has an order

I honestly feel like we don’t talk about it enough. I think we like to give this message to people that they can have everything, they just have to want it enough. People can have the job and the life that they want immediately, and they never have to think about it.

But it isn’t true. Life and spirituality and existence all have their own governments. It is no different than children needing to be born before they’re able to walk. There is an order to things.

In my own world I find comforts in things like bread. I made some sourdough loaves from scratch this week. And let me just say.. just ask any baker if they believe that the world has order. They would agree. Between the waiting and the proofing and the cooling and the lid on vs lid off vs spritzing with water, it all plays together in a particular order for a particular purpose.

I had to start with a starter. I had to add flour and water and stir and wait day after day. It is honestly a bit embarrassing to have this gloop in a jar on your countertop, and to tell your husband, ‘Don’t throw away my gloop! We will have fabulous homemade bread!’ and then make him wait for several days for it to happen.

The starter has to bubble - it has to move, it has to grow. You have to feed it and nurture its environment. The temperature has to be right, as well as the measurements.

Then you have the dough prep - not only do you have to mix the ingredients correctly, but you have times of letting the dough expand, but not too much. It can’t grow too fast or the top will dry out. You can’t bake it too soon or the flavor won’t be quite right.

You go through all of this until you have this amazing (small) loaf of bread. It makes you feel Biblical. It makes you feel like you can conquer the world.

…until you try and cut into it and realize your crust is as tough as that AP Calc test you failed in high school.

All of this to say, is that in this season, what bread are you baking? What goals are you rushing, and what environments are you compromising? Are you expecting your family to be financially sound too soon? Are you investing money when you don’t even make enough to cover your bills each month? Are you expecting healing in your life before doing the work? Are you trying to get a better job but doing nothing to improve yourself?

You’ve got to take a step back and look at it from a more logical viewpoint. Look at it from the eyes of a baker.

Or get used to the tough crust.

XOXO,

Windham