bouillon cubes

Graham and I were baking the other day. Well, I was trying to throw the correct ingredients in the bowl while my 2.5 year old tried to not let me complete my task on time. You get the picture...

I was trying to teach Graham about helping and listening to directions. I might as well have been speaking Klingon. 

Instead of cocoa powder, he brought me bouillon cubes.  I doubt the church's concert goers would like Bouillon cube brownies.  Graham's mind works about 100 miles per minute, which means mine needs to go at least 101. And it's not exactly a fair fight since he gets 11 hours of sleep and I get 5 broken into two 2.5 hour stretches. But, I racked my tired brain and opened my heart to listen for a lesson I was sure to come. And my God is faithful. Teaching through bouillon cubes, and I am thankful. 

The ingredients...the body of Christ...the importance.

I need every ingredient in my pantry to make certain foods. Every spice jar, every powder, every baking supply is useful in baking. We don't leave out a certain spice just because - no, we head to the store for 1/4 teaspoon of the rarest jar of spice we can find. My recipes are like the body of Christ. All   ingredients are useful and helpful. Some are simply in there to draw out and improve the flavor of other ingredients. I think back to the 'we are the salt of the earth' phrase we hear. But salt alone? gross. 1 cup of salt replacing 1 cup sugar and you have a problem. We, as salt, need the other pieces in each recipe of life. We all get thrown into the oven of life after being mixed and beaten together and somehow we are to come out as one piece of great tasting food on the other side! Salt can't just decide to be a delicious soup all by it self - it needs the broth, the meat, the veggies, the bouillon cubes and yes...even then onions we all have to deal with!

So, the next time you are out of an ingredient, pray for your church body of Christ, there might be a few missing ingredients that could bring out your flavor. 

So...more MOMents of baking to come...

Rachel

Mary - The Hostess with the Mostess

I love the Christmas Story. There is something new every time you dive into those timeless words read by so many fathers, pastors, children over the years. Several years ago, as my husband and I struggled to conceive and were constantly praying for children, God spoke to me through His word. This time, he used the characters and their stories to teach me about mine. Two women - pregnant. If you have ‘Hannah’s’ or ‘Elizabeth’s’ in your life - women with a deep longing for a child but struggling to conceive, that can be some of the worst news possible. To hear of another’s pregnancy and feel your own loss ever so much more greater. So as a women praying for a child, I dove into the Word to read about babies leaping in the wombs and the delivery of these little babies. 

So...what did God speak into my heart five Christmases ago? That two women who by all human accounts shouldn’t be pregnant, were in fact pregnant. The simple truth I found? That I was praying to a God who cares about desires and pregnancies and babies! He had shown His might in both Mary and Elizabeth. I serve a God who can absolutely give my husband and I our child in the right time if He so desired. 

Now, flash forward to today as we approach Christmas with two little boys. Our God is so incredibly faithful! And the truth in that statement? That he is still faithful even if He hadn’t answered our childless prayer. 

So...my younger son is now 6 months old. Thinking back to May of this year and June of 2011 when I brought two beautiful baby boys home from the hospital, I have a new respect for Mary this year. I heard a blurb on a radio station this season about Mary and her post partum guests. Well, that got me thinking. After we welcomed out sons, we had company. Grandparents, Great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends all made the trek to visit our little treasures. Granted, they used mapquest, GPS, or iMaps and not a heavenly host or a bright star. 

Setting aside the delivery and post partum recovery in a barn, Mary was a champ. Even delivering the Christ child had to hurt - He was fully human. And then to top it off, she had to host strangers. Dirty strangers. Shepherds who had their animals, wisemen that had traveled many dusty miles. Add to that nursing a newborn, recovering from pregnancy and a many mile donkey ride just a few days before the birth, you can see my respect for Mary. 

How can I apply this to my life today? I need to be a better host. I need to be ready for ‘dirty strangers’. Those that I’m afraid to offend by the hope of Christ. Those that need something but can’t give anything in return this Christmas season. If Mary can host, I can host. 

Looking for a MOMent to host...
Rachel