The mill runs every day in our house. Grinding kernels early in the dawn for steamy bowls of cream of wheat.
And twice weekly it runs, so like the little Red Hen, I can grind the wheat and make the bread for all of the hungry little tummies that make their home here.
I line up the loaf pans, tuck in a sheet of parchment paper, then cradle the soft dough into their wee beds, finally spreading a warm wet blanket over the cribs so they can rise in sleep.
Bread for my babies.
Nothing says satisfaction like whole wheat bread hot out of the oven, butter soaking in, taste buds savoring.
Jesus knew this.
Mark 7:27 And Jesus said to her,
First, allow the children
to be satisfied,
for it is not good to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs.
Who is getting fed first?
Are my children satisfied first every day? Before phone calls, household chores, email inboxes, message boards, errands, volunteer activities, church functions, hobbies.....are my children deeply and fully satisfied with soul-filling nourishment?
With me. With laughter. With hugs. With shared stories. With music and dancing and poetry and literature and art and nature and wind and sky and LIFE.
I am done with giving life's bread---time, memories, investments, me---to the dogs: to empty net surfing, to obsessive housecleaning, to "expert's" agendas, to mindless, non-eternal activities.
May those dogs find their bread somewhere else.
In this house, the children will be satisfied FIRST.
I am the Little Red Hen....making bread. The wafting smell of living bread will fill our children, their grumbling souls will find satisfaction, and we will taste deeply of life together.
My children are smiling and satisfied.
And so am I.
Lord, You are the Bread of Life. I need You for my very Sustenance....to consume You so that You are my very Life. Then I can satisfy my soul-hungry children.
