Lessons from a loaf of bread

I love to bake!  I think I pretty much always have.  My favorite things to bake has almost always been sweets: cookies, brownies, cakes, pies - anything sweet.  In an effort towards a more healthy lifestyle, we have been doing more baking of breads and bread products (bagels, pitas, rolls, buns, you name it!)  We have been using whole grain wheat and grinding it at home for over a month now, and have enjoyed the extra flavor of good homemade bread, and the knowledge that our bread was better for us.  This past week, we saw mention of the dangers of whole wheat flour - and an investigation has followed.  Phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are present in whole grains and many suggest soaking grains to convert the phytic acid and neutralize the enzyme inhibitors.

After looking into various facts and points of view, we have decided that phytic acid is not a dangerous substance for most diets, and enzyme inhibitors are not dangerous when fresh fruits and vegetables are part of the diet.  At this point, you're probably wondering what my point is, this blog is not usually about baking.

In our investigation, we stumbled onto sourdough bread - a fermented starter that neutralizes phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, and food spoilage bacteria.  And the bacteria that causes the rising in the bread, even though killed in the baking process, gives added flavor and nutrients to the bread.  So for the last several days, we have had sourdough starter (named 'Fred') sitting on our counter.  Fred is a hearty guy, but fred needs something on a regular basis.  Fred needs to be fed.  Fred is healthy; his bacteria fight off food spoilage, kill of non-beneficial bacteria, and cause my bread to rise properly when preparing for baking.  Fred takes carbohydrates and gives off tiny CO2 bubbles that make light and fluffy loaves.  But in order to do that, Fred needs food - good food.  So every 12 hours on the counter (2-3 days in the fridge), I need to add more flour and water to Fred to keep him growing and protected.

Fred struck me this morning as a picture of our spiritual lives.  With proper feeding and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we grow healthily to fight off the attacks of sinful influences and spoilage that comes from wrong thoughts and actions.  With proper feeding, growth is evidenced in out lives and spreads easily to infect all areas of our lives.  But without proper feeding, just like Fred, we would cease to grow, and not have the strength to fight off unwanted influences and the spoilage that comes from them.

Fred likes to be fed twice a day, when is your next feeding?

"As newborn babes, 
desire the sincere milk of the word, 

that ye may grow thereby:

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 

- I Peter 2:2-3