There's something immensely enjoyable about baking and cooking in general. When various ingredients are carefully blended and come out of the oven as an edible creation, the feeling is one of great satisfaction. But, being somewhat of a scatterbrain, with my head, arms and legs up in the clouds, the offerings from my kitchen can often be a haphazard mix of love and divine blessing.
Take breaded roe for example, oh, the frustration that occurs when I plan to make it and an hour or so before dinner I look in the fridge and realise I have no eggs. Chilli is another meal I love to prepare and scoff with equal delight. However it often has to make a hasty clothes change into Spaghetti bolognaise when I search the cupboards and discover I've run out of chilli powder. Oh, the woes of a Scatterbrain cook such as myself.
It is true that after many years of my haphazard way of cooking, that I can make a quick assessment of what is in the cupboards and can put together something to eat. And so often quite by accident the meal is enjoyed and no one would know the manic state the kitchen was in whilst preparing it. And yet it is never quite the same as when one is prepared and has a full storehouse filled and ready for whatever the cook so desires to make.
Imagine the manner in which my little heart skipped just before Christmas, when upon reading my favourite blog, the recipe for making Biscotti was given. I'd wanted to make something Christmassy with my children, something simple but enjoyable and the recipe for Biscotti looked perfect. I hesitantly opened the kitchen cupboards, warily ticking off each ingredient and found I had everything with which to make the little biscuits. Stunned, I gathered the children around and announced what we'd be doing that afternoon. It was such a good feeling, what a difference it makes I thought, when you have in your cupboards all the right ingredients.
It dawned on me that day how true it is of Bible memorization. I used to think it an impossible waste of time to memorize Bible verses. After all why do it? To show off in true Pharisaical fashion how much you know seemed the only reason I'd ever come across. Although that was never uttered by those enthralled with telling me their latest verse memorized, it always seemed to betray itself as such, 'I've learned all 27 chapters of Leviticus off by heart'. Perhaps that is an exaggeration, but it is simply nauseating and wearying to hear people blowing their own trumpets! I'm quick to remind myself when confronted with those who recite the book of Deuteronomy in Latin that it doesn't matter how much you know if you are not living it.
Burned as you can see by bad experiences, I am left very cautious, probably too cautious. It is so easy to be living from the flesh, the Pharisees were good at that. You can do the right thing, the righteous thing, but if it's from the flesh it's worthless. If the right thing is not rooted and grounded from the foundation of Jesus Christ, it is as filthy rags.
And so it is with that 'baggage' that I am a few days away from starting a Scripture Memory Challenge. My flesh still raw from so many years of the Pharisees sandpaper tongue whispering in my ear, and a mind wearied from being given the, 'tick the right box and you'll be okay' mentality. And so I stand on the brink of another adventure, with a heart looking for Jesus, Creator, Magnificent God amongst a lot of man made 'fluff'.
Biscotti and God. There is a link between the two and the link is with regard to what is in my cupboards, the cupboards of my soul. If my heart were a kitchen, would a quick inspection reveal there is little to nourish a tired soul who is lonely? Is there enough to quench the thirst of one whose tongue is parched from the world's bitter water? Is the fruit bowl empty? Are there no herbs or spices to enliven and bring sparkle to the eyes?
At times of stress it is a natural thing to turn to the kitchen and look for chocolate, a quick boost, a sweet taste, some comfort. But, what if instead I turned inward, no not to myself in self-pity, but inward to Him, what if I looked in the cupboards of my heart for what I could draw upon, and feed on, be built up by and have bones strengthened by. A storehouse full of delicacies to rekindle the eyes and help them focus on what is real and not what is only seen, nourishment to give increased stamina and make sleep sweeter. Yes, much like my cooking skills, I can rustle something up, but how deeply satisfying when the right ingredients are there to make a wholesome meal.
And so this is why for the second time I plan to take up the challenge, to fill my heart cupboards, not so as to invite neighbours to come and look so I can fling open those doors and show how they bulge with provisions. No, this food is not the plastic kind for display only, this food is for eating, not looking at, this food is to be perpetual. And as the fingers of my mind scan the cupboards in these months to come, every item will be in place and never run out.
Biscotti Bible? No, its not a new translation, but baking Biscotti will forever remind me of the value of having God's Word hidden in my heart.
The day I made Biscotti, my reading (pictured above) in Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, was taken from Isaiah 41:10. How timely don't you think? "I will strengthen thee".
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