Being more like dough

I made a loaf of bread (well okay it was pizza dough - but the process is just like bread) the other day. After the first rise it was beautifully mounded up in the bowl and then I went in and punched it all down flat. As it was deflating I mentioned to Steve that it's kind of almost sad that you nurture the bread along by giving it yeast and warm water and letting it rest and not disturbing it and then as soon as it's beautifully puffy you beat it back down to where it started. He chuckled and we went on about our day. But you know, I've been thinking a lot about that bread and I've decided that I'd like to be more like dough. Don't confuse that with a desire to be doughier - I'm plenty doughy enough as it is!! (also not to be confused with HAVING dough - we are FAR FAR FAR from being doughy in that sense!!)

When you really look at it, we're all a bit like dough. I'd just like to work to better recognize ALL of my stages. God gives us flour and water and yeast (metaphorically anyway!) and lets us rest awhile and we puff up and times are good and we're beautiful and round and happy (some of us, myself for one, are rounder than others....ha ha ha). But if we stopped there - if we baked the bread after the first rise, it would fail. It's full of just air and not strong enough to be baked. So God gives us an opportunity to grow again. He gives us a struggle of some kind that seems to deflate us and leaves us perhaps feeling like we'll never get anywhere. But He always gives us the inner strength to rise again. Yes, folks, there's the bad pun/metaphor you've been waiting for. But really - He does. And we do rise again - and like the dough, we're stronger for it.

This is the end of the line for the bread. We bake it after the second rise. Why? Because if you continue to punch down and knead bread it becomes tough and less airy. Not a good thing for bread. We like our bread a little crusty on the outside, but light and airy on the inside. I'm not ready to be just a little crusty on the outside and filled with airy goodness on the inside. I'm glad God made me tough dough. --That He's allowed me to rise again and again and that I've been punched down and kneaded more than just once. I sometimes forget during a struggle in life that there is good reason for it. I will emerge stronger. I will. It's not an option. It's a fact and I need to learn to appreciate all the stages of being dough and stop focusing on the times when I'm flat and when life is beautiful and round and work on appreciating the process a little more.

I was watching Evan Almighty the other night and something from the movie has really stuck with me. Morgan Freeman (who plays God) says to the main character's wife, "When someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience or opportunities to be patient? When someone prays for courage, do you think God gives them courage or opportunities to be courageous? When someone prays for their family to be closer, do you think God gives them warm fuzzy feelings or the chance to love each other?" I'm sure I got the wording a little wrong, but the gist of it is there - I think for me and my beliefs, that hit the nail on the head and was a lightbulb moment for me all at the same time. Who knew that a movie and a loaf of bread (pizza dough) would give me such an opportunity to grow in my faith and in life? Now the key will be remembering to apply it in daily life - especially that patience bit!!