I LOVE bread! I’m pretty sure Jesus likes bread too, or else why would he refer to himself as “the bread of life”? I love wheat bread, white bread, whole grain, focaccia, croissants, bread pudding…I could go on and on. Quoting the wise words of Dr. Seuss, “I would eat it in a house. I would eat it with a mouse. I would eat it here or there. I would eat it ANYWHERE.” (I forgot to mention I also love banana bread, just in case you were wondering.)

But making homemade bread (which is the very best) is cumbersome, time-consuming, and tedious. There are soooo many steps and measurements. Mix it up. Let it rise. Punch it down. Let it rest. Let is rise. It is an all-day process, and heaven forbid the kids come storming through the kitchen while the bread is resting! “QUIET DOWN! THE BREAD IS SLEEPING!”

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Oh, the sweet result though! Despite being such an arduous undertaking, every step has a little reward waiting for you at the end. The yeast bubbles as it activates in warm water (insert excitement, especially since my yeast packets are usually expired). Mixing the ingredients forms this perfect sticky elastic ball of dough (insert excitement). Under the cover of a towel, the dough “magically” rises (insert excitement). You punch it down, shape it into a delightful little loaf, and this time, it doubles in size (insert excitement)! Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, you gently slide it into the oven as if attempting to lay a sleeping baby down without disturbing them. The timer dings and out comes this perfectly golden brown, crusty on top, and warm in the center, manna-from-heaven (insert excitement, Instagram it, text a picture to all your friends)! This is worth celebrating!

Well, guess what? Raising kids is a lot like baking bread. It’s a long process (18+ years, but really it’s a lifetime). You have to be committed to the end result. You have to add just the right ingredients, in just the right amounts, at just the right times: love, devotion, patience, discipline, reassurance, guidance, trust…the list goes on. Sometimes you’ve got to punch them down (not literally, obviously) like bread rising in a bowl. Do you know why you punch bread? Punching bread deflates the dough and releases the build-up of carbon dioxide, allowing the bread to be molded and shaped into loaves. It also produces a finer grain, because who wants tough, chewy bread? It is your job to take your little loaves and shape them into the people you one day pray they will become.

Raising kids is like baking bread, because sometimes as parents you have to sit back and trust that all your hard work is going to pay off. Ultimately, you can’t control the end result. Sometimes you have to trust when the heat is on and everything feels like it‘s on fire, that God is using those moments to create character and perseverance (in both you and your child).

But do you know what’s best? Even when we don’t do everything perfectly, when we aren’t the perfect parents, and we don’t say the right thing, God is a master baker! He can take our screw-ups and our imperfect moments and use ALL of it to mold and shape our children into the persons he has planned for them to become. Our responsibility is merely to commit our parenting and our children to the Lord; to seek him as we navigate the uncertainties of child-rearing, and trust that he has it all figured out. God will do the rest.

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.

Psalms 37:5

Now to be honest, I’m really craving some fresh warm bread right about now. But I’m going to have to pick mine up at the bakery, because I’m too busy raising humans right now to bake!