Category: bread

Full: Satisfied and Complete {Intuition Diaries}

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
(Isaiah 55:2 NKJV)


One of the pleasures of vacationing for me is being creative with our food. As we travel from town to town, I am on the lookout for local fare and farmers’ markets. I love the challenge of cooking while we’re out on the boat; I am limited by space, two burners and the grill for our meals. I am always looking for inspiration for our menu.
Before this trip, I devoured the book, Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist. She served up appetizing essays surrounding her adventures cooking with her friends and enjoying life to the fullest around the table. Intermingled with her stories are recipes that are just as fun to read as the rest of the book. I copied a few down for our trip.
This morning, I made her Quinoa Breakfast, which is quinoa with apple chicken sausage and fried eggs on top. Les tried it and we both agreed the quinoa makes a very healthy and tasty alternative to hash browns.
At our first grocery stop I bought red plums, which were a bit bland even though they were from a local orchard. I wanted some fruit to go with our breakfast, so I cut the plums in half to sauté them in some oil with the fresh rosemary, some nutmeg and brown sugar. I kept the brown sugar to a minimum. Surprisingly, cooking the plums made them tart. I told Les I’d add more sugar for dinner to serve as dessert over pound cake (if we could find some in town today.)


On the advice of the folks from Gasport, we stopped in Medina to check out a local bakery. We each were going to get a pastry, when we smelled the bread. We already had bread on the boat, but the scent of freshly baked bread won us over. The loaf of cheese boule  was added to our ticket. I’d never had boule before, so I asked the baker about it. She said it was crusty bread with a soft inside. This loaf had cheddar cheese mixed into the dough.
We took our baked goods to the boat and headed over to Albion to find a place for lunch. We had hoped to find a diner or café right on Main Street, but nothing. So we regrouped and decided on sandwiches from our cooler.
With all this good eating and traveling, we made a commitment to be active this trip. We have our bikes along, so asked Les if I could ride my bike to the next stop while he drove the boat. The canal has a speed limit of 10mph, and most times you have to go slower because of the no wake zones. At that pace, we could see each other as I pedaled on the canal trail and he cruised the canal.
Tonight we ate grilled chicken and zucchini. We grilled slices of the boule and topped them with the sauteed plums, which I sweetened up with more brown sugar.

We were satisfied. 

Here’s some photos from the day on the canal, not food related. 

The Big Apple in Medina, NY

Les cruising the canal, while I rode my bike.
See Les, he’s right over there behind me.
Where are they headed now?
Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Need: A Lack of Something Requisite, Desirable or Useful

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
(John 6:33 NIV)


When we get to this familiar request in the Lord’s prayer, we are halfway through the recitation. It is the most practical and basic of requests. Yet the surrounding thoughts feed through this request. 

We make our daily request based on the knowledge of God as our Father. We can depend on the promise of provision as it is His will to provide for us. And when He grants this request, we have everything we need to hallow His name and our lives. Once we have experienced His provision, we seek the deeper spiritual needs: asking for and offering forgiveness and requesting the way out of temptation.

The significance of this simple request becomes clearer, if you dig into the original language. When Jesus spoke, he used the local dialect–Aramaic. In Aramaic, this sentence translates roughly to this: “Give to us today, this very day, the bread of our need.”

Bread is a basic staple of most diets. To meditate on the bread of our need, takes me back to the Old Testament and then directly to Christ as the fulfillment of the promise. In Old Testament worship, they placed the Bread of Presence on the altar before God. During the wandering desert days of the Israelites, God sent down b read (manna) from heaven to meet their daily need for sustenance.

Jesus is our our daily bread. The bread of our ultimate need is salvation. Jesus satisfies this need completely. To know Jesus is to have everything requisite, desirable and useful, in order to relate with our Father in heaven.

During the sacrament of communion, we eat bread to recall Jesus’ broken body on the cross, broken on our behalf. A friend recently pointed out that the phrase, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” takes on a richer meaning for her, whenever she partakes of communion. As I put together her insight and the daily “breadness” of Jesus, I rejoiced in the goodness of God. The rest of the verse (Psalm 34:8) states: “Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” I marveled at how these mixed metaphors of bread and refuge give me something more to chew on. 

To dwell within God’s presence is our daily benefit. So by all means, let’s ask “Give us this day our daily bread, our daily refuge, our daily need, our daily portion of goodness.” 


What comes to mind, when you pray, 
“Give us this day our daily bread”? 



Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Sing Praise!

On the sixth day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me
six reasons to sing praise!
 
 
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and
bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
(Isaiah 55:10-12 NIV)
 
 
1. Snow: We’re going to have a white
New Year’s Eve!
 
 
2. Bread: Making homemade bagels, a snow day tradition!
 
 
 
3. Word: Going to hide God’s word in my heart in 2013 using the 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart app and Kindle e-book!
 
Screenshot
100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart by Robert J. Morgan
Photo credit:
B&H Publishing Group
 
 
4. Joy: Christmas is forever!
 
 
 
5. Desire: Word of the year! Thanks to Melanie from Only a Breath for designing my free button! Check out her Bible reading printables and other fun stuff on her blog. I look forward to following her in 2013 for creative and spiritual encouragement!
 
 
 
 
 
desire fulfilled is a tree of life
(Proverbs 13:12b)
 
 
6. Peace: Forgiven!
 
 


Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Companionship: The Fellowship Existing Between Companions

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
 love of God and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV)
 
 
 
As we prepare to enter the journey of Advent, this coming Sunday, the companionship of travelling together surfaces as one of the key aspects of this season. I could curl up on the couch with my pile of devotions and the Bible, light a candle, listen to soft music, sip a warm brew, and munch on my fresh baked bread with butter and jam and I would be content.

Yet, I would be missing the whole intent; Jesus entered the world to restore fellowship, to offer the intimacy that Father, Son and Spirit have enjoyed forever. To break bread together fulfills a need, here at this place, in my home and through other gatherings.

“Withness” is what I long for in this time of contemplation.

To share this journey will be a gift. And we will experience the fellowship of grace that transcends time and place. How will this happen? Through the miracle of words. To me words are bread. They nourish the soul. God calls Jesus, the Word. He gave us a whole book of words to feast on and He has gifted us with writers who share their words freely.
 
All this food, and yet sometimes I am hungry, because I neglect to feed on these gifts. (Or worse I eat them so fast, I do not savor their flavor and essence. It goes something like this: Eat the Word. Check. Go to next thing.)

As the Advent{ures} begin let’s pray that each one of us will slow down and savor the Savior. I am thankful for your companionship and look forward to the days ahead because I know I am not alone.

 

 

Posted on by kelrohlf 5

Setting the Table

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem
 
 
Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes and bowls, and the jars for drink offerings; the bread that is continually there is to remain on it.
(Numbers 4:7 NIV)
 
 “Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.”  (Henri Nouwen)
 
 
When making bread, you must wait. After combining the ingredients and kneading the dough, (with a food processor or a bread machine or even with your hands) you wait. You wait for the yeast to do its work, growing the dough into a loaf. Then more minutes pass as the oven does its work to finish the bread. Finally, you place the warm bread on the counter savoring the aroma, rummaging for a knife, some butter and jam. The promise of slicing into it and devouring its goodness is realized as it melts into your mouth.

This whole idea of heading to Bethlehem holds promise. I have journeyed there before in my imagination, but for some reason this year, I hope to discover something new. What does this “house of bread” have in store for us? All the familiar allusions to Jesus as the Bread of Life and Our Daily Bread come to mind. And the Old Testament practice of placing bread before God as an offering, what does that mean? Soon we will know, as we continue the journey, more will be placed before us, nourishing our souls.
 
 

As the season of Advent approaches, I sense God setting the table. I imagine Him spreading fresh faith over our hearts, placing plates, dishes, bowls and jugs of delicious fare centered on the best bread ever, the bread of His Presence.
 
Let’s go to Bethlehem to taste and see the Goodness of God.

 

 
Posted on by kelrohlf 2