The process of making bread is similar to raising children.
The basic recipe is relatively simple with few ingredients; but in order to get bread, we must combine, mold, shape (even pummel) all the ingredients together. Then we must let the dough sit, until it rises.
Once it rises, we separate the dough and depending on our recipe, let it rise further before placing it in the oven.
Once it comes out of the oven, it's beautiful and ready to be eaten. One of my favorite memories as a child was eating slices of fresh baked bread with butter on Saturday afternoons.
In Proverbs 22:6 [KJV]we read, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 31:28 [KJV] says, her children rise up and call her blessed.
As mothers, we train our children by teaching, molding character, disciplining, hugging and being practical examples for them. Sometimes the hardest part is to just sit and wait while the bread is rising. Everything went in that is needed to make a loaf of bread, but with children, we don't know how long it will take for them to rise; for them to rise up and call us blessed.
I've had to sit and wait as my oldest went through a wayward stage. This child went off to college and probably had the typical college experience - enjoying his freedom away from home just a tad bit too much. When he came back home, I sometimes felt as if I didn't know him. But since he was an adult now, I learned it was better to pray and believe the promises of God's word than to constantly nag or harass him. So I prayed daily. I prayed constantly. I prayed often. My husband and I both prayed. Today, this young man is someone who lives to please the Lord; a young man who is not ashamed of what Christ has done and is doing in his life. He embodies Romans 12:1-2. But during his season, I had to wait and hope and pray and wait as God worked and formed him into the perfect loaf of bread.
Through my children, I know that the promises of God's word are true. As I've waited with each child, I don't wait idly. I wait with a belief that God's promises aren't empty and they will come to fruition. I wait as an exercise of faith. I wait hopefully.
So let's do our part in raising our children and trust that when they are old, they will not depart from our training and will rise up and call us blessed.
Traditional White bread Recipe
