Friday, December 16, 2011

Mr. Sourdough

He's alive. He is living in my room. I feed him everyday.

Yep I am coexisting with Mr. Sourdough and I would have uploaded a picture if I was on my computer.... He's fat, has a bubbly personality and consists partly of alcohol (fermented yeast). He is single and totally the bread winner type so ladies, he's a keeper. I'll introduce you two if you want.

My first attempt at producing a sourdough baby went pretty good. It takes soo long for them to come to term and I was impatient so the result wasn't quite the same. I want to try again tomorrow and do an overnight cool rise... That's supposed to improve the flavor. I also want to make some cinnamon rolls so Mr. Sourdough will be a busy boy.

I've read that if you treat your Mr. Sourdough starter right and feed him correctly he can last for years and century's and maybe even decades! What a crazy thought. Someday I'll pass on Mr. Sourdough to my great-grandchildren and tell them how to care for him, my kitchen companion. They will have great respect for Mr. Sourdough because he kept bread on the table for so many years.

... That is if I don't kill him accidentally like I did to his brother. Oops.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Glass reflections

"To desire something and not have it - is this not the source of nearly all our pain and sorrow?"

It's about time I write about why I named my blog glass reflections. I know right, I've had it how long? But I never felt like I could fully explain or communicate what the name means. It's a slight reference to 1 Cor. 13:12 "For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face. Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known."
I believe this is talking about the completion of the word of God as Paul worked to finish writing the books in the Bible. But it holds a fascination for me. A word picture of looking into a dim glass and faintly making out your image. Maybe the glass is streched so you look skinny or fat and the imperfections of the glass marr your face with ugly marks.

I think we look at our lives through that glass. It's never good enough. It keeps us battered and defeated. Why try when the image never changes? The dark smokey glass has ruined our opinions of our self-worth. The desires we have for something more dies inside when we look through the glass. The reflection is detestable, who would want to love that?

I think there's more. I think we're just looking at things from the wrong perspective. We wake up every morning and head to that dark, dirty, dim glass and peer in, noting that nothing has changed. We pick at everything we dont like and then to feel better or hold a pity party, we compare it to someone elses glass! It makes even the good things of life dreaded. It kills desire. We don't like to desire for the fear of falling again.
"Hope rouses the desire from it's slumber and makes us even more vulnerable to disappointment."
"This is the point at which God most feels like our enemy. It seems at times that he will go to any length to thwart the very thing we most deeply want.
You see, the real dilemma of desire is that it humbles us. It takes us way beyond our own resources where we need to ask for help."

We're looking at this earthly life as the end all to our satisfaction and joy and happiness. Our search for the perfect life and the situation we've always imagined is not in vain. We just have the timing wrong. Take away that faded old glass. That's the worlds way of seeing you. There's a new glass waiting. Right now we know in part but then we shall know. Life will never be perfect here on this earth, but there's is a day that's coming... That's a hope that will never disappoint. How we handle the difficult situations now are just a test of our faithfulness to our God. He will not fail to reward the trials you endured.

Right now all we can see are the glass reflections... Mine isn't looking so bad after all... It's a matter of a heavenly perspective.