The Aroma Of Baking
An Aroma Announces A New Thing Is Being Created
by Eric Elkin
The sweet aroma of baking filled the air in our house this past Sunday morning. Free of other responsibilities, Peggy was determined to bake. She announced to me that she wanted to take her time and enjoy doing it. So many times, the Christmas season is a rush. Shopping, baking, decorating are all done on the fly. In the speed of doing things, we can lose sight of joy.
Peggy loves baking. The longer I am with her, the more I enjoy it as well. For the most part, though, I enjoy watching. I find it fascinating, watching good cooks—those who never really measure with precision, but intuition. A whole catalog of combinations and amounts are stored in their memory. Baking is an art lost on those who only eat and do not watch.
If you were to watch someone who enjoys cooking, you would see different tempo changes and rhythms. There are times Peggy looks like a mad scientist creating a diabolical potion. Other times, she moves with the excitement of a child who just opened a present on Christmas morning. Then there are times she waltzes across the floor like a dancer. Regardless of the tempo, every movement has an air of joy.
I am trying to learn the joy of cooking. What I need to do is let the fear of failing go and just enjoy the process. This is harder than it seems. From the moment I begin to mix ingredients, I fear missing one or adding the wrong one. I worry about how the cookies will look or taste. In the end, the anxiety is too much. Thankfully, Peg helps calm my nerves.
Reading the Gospel of Luke this morning made me think about baking. God sounds like a baker creating some new creation. I wish there were a more intimate name for God. A name that did not carry such power and dominion. The one creating in this story seems more soft and tender. The one baking knows a secret. What is being formed will delight.
If I were Mary, I would be freaking out about the whole process. Yet, she calmly says, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be…” Obviously, she is a person who enjoys the baking process. She knows or at least has heard and believed how and what God creates. At the moment of our reading, her home is a kitchen. The angel is in the kitchen, dancing around, announcing the aroma of what the baker is baking.
Peggy doesn’t freak out about baking like me because she knows. She knows by taste and consistency where she in the process. She knows how to make changes if something is wrong. Besides, a failed cookie is still made with sugar and butter. How could it taste bad?
Knowledge is critical to finding calm in the chaos. The wisdom of knowing nothing is impossible for God is a good thing. It is also helpful to know, God never stops creating. Each day, no matter what the condition or circumstances of your life, something new is being formed in you. To me, prayer and worship are ways of noticing the aroma of the new thing God is creating.
Click to read Luke 1: 26-38
Reflection Questions:
Do you like baking or do you prefer to eat?
What aroma most soothes your soul?
How often do you consider the act of creating?
Where is something new being created in you? Or, do you trust God to create something new in you?