“. . . like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”  – Matthew 13:33 

Of all the millions of food recipes there are in the world today from every ethnic origin imaginable, there are few as ancient as that of baked bread.  Today, bread in its many forms and flavors is so accessible from store shelves and bakeries we hardly give it much thought.  But to make it ourselves – from scratch – is an experience that brushes against some of the deepest roots of our humanity.

Once, many years ago, I became fascinated about bread and decided I would try my hand at making it.  It happened at a time when I was between jobs for a couple of weeks, and during dead of winter when our kids were in school all day, so I had plenty of time on my hands.  During those two weeks I baked bread almost every day.  While it was not so good for my waste line, it did wonders for my soul; for, as I learned, breadmaking is as much art as it is science.  And since art imitates life, as they say, I discovered some great life lessons through my breadmaking experience.

While the basic ingredients are pretty simple: flour, water, milk, shortening, butter, and a dash of salt, there remains this mysterious item called yeast, and it is in working with the yeast that breadmaking becomes art.  Or, as the old classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking describes it: “If you have never made real bread, behold one of the great dramas of the kitchen.  Every ingredient is a character.  As producer-director, assemble your cast.  Yeast is the prima donna.  Her volatile temperament is capable of fermentation only within limits of heat – and does she resent a drafty dressing room!”

Although yeast looks like a minor ingredient, yet it permeates the dough causing it to rise to become a scrumptious loaf of bread.  Just like us, there is that little temperamental ingredient that permeates our soul forming our values and character, without which we are unable to blossom as we were intended, into the image of God.  Jesus understood the value of small ingredients.  “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed . . .” He said. “Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree . . . [or] like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

“That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; that they in their turn might tell it to their children.”  Psalm 78:6 

As we were packing up our former residence several years ago to move to our current one, we discovered a few treasures that had long gone unnoticed.  One was an old King James Bible that had belonged to my great-grandfather.  At first I didn’t know what to do with it, but neither did I want to discard it.  Dusty from sitting on a high bookshelf, its old leather binding cracked from age, but examining it I noticed pages that were tattered and worn from usage more than age.  From a handwritten inscription I learned that it had been a Christmas gift to him from my grandmother and great-aunt in 1911.

My great-grandfather, Robert Boyle, died in 1924 long before I was born, so I never knew him nor a great deal about him.  What I do know is that he was an Irish immigrant, moving his young family to the U.S. in 1889 where he established a sheep ranch in northern Texas.  His grandchildren called him Grandpa, a touching coincidence since that is what my grandkids call me.  In his younger days he had studied theology at the University of Edinburgh in preparation for ministry in the Presbyterian Church, but never pursued that profession.  Yet, it does speak to his regular reading of scripture.

I do not know a lot of other details about his life other than these, except that I realized something I had never considered before when I discovered his old King James Bible.  What my great-grandfather had done, unknowingly perhaps, was to leave a great legacy to his successors; for in reading the notes he scribbled in the margins and the verses that were dog-eared it is obvious he was a man of great character, high moral values, a student of scripture and a man of God.  Now here it is a hundred years later, and he is still making a difference in people’s lives – namely mine.  What a legacy!

How much, I wonder, do we consider our own legacies, the ones that really matter?  Grandpa Boyle’s old Bible made me pause and give some thought to that.  Will I leave that kind of inspired legacy that will endure a hundred years or more?  I need to be thinking about that so “. . . the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn . . .”  As a reminder we have given his old Bible a prominent place in our home today where it lays open to that very scripture, Psalm 78.

“If one falls down, his friend can help him up.”  – Ecclesiastes 4:10 

There is a great story describing the distinction between heaven and hell.  It begins with a scene from hell where its residents are gathered round a banquet table set with an abundant and scrumptious feast – not exactly what one would expect in hell – until a closer look reveals an atmosphere of bitter agony due to the fact those sitting at the table cannot feed themselves because their arms are stiffened at the elbow and will not bend.  Imagine sitting before all that fabulous food, and not being able to eat any of it.  Then there is a scene in heaven that is surprisingly identical to the one from hell, including the stiffened arms.  The difference is, there is an atmosphere of great joy and celebration as the inhabitants use their stiffened arms to feed each other across the table.

What strikes me about this story is not so much its depiction of the hereafter, but the here-and-now.  Our natural desire as human beings is to become independent, to be able to feed ourselves, and it begins at around age two, as I’ve watched my own grandchildren at about that age start to spew out those defiant words, “I do it myself!”  Yet, when we allow them to do so, they usual leave a big mess in their wake. . . . Hmm, don’t we all!

Life is designed for companionship and interdependence, not isolation and independence.  We are not here on earth to serve ourselves, but to serve others and to serve God.  For most of us, though, it’s not until we’ve left enough messes in our wake – like a two-year-old – that we realize we need help, the surprising result from which we grow to become helpers.  The classic example of this can be found in twelve-step programs through which one addict helps another find sobriety.  Or, as they say, one beggar shows another beggar where to find bread – the “helped” becomes the “helper.”

What beautiful imagery we see in the parable of the great banquet table in heaven, with companions sitting across from each other, simultaneously experiencing being the helped and the helper.   The fact is, we all have stiffened arms – disabilities, addictions, or limitations of some sort.  Yet, by being helped we grow to become helpers.  And in becoming both helped and helper, we experience the greatest joy in life – both here-and-now as well as the hereafter.  So then, “If one falls down, his friend can help him up.”

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”  – Matthew 7:12 

One evening years ago, back when I was a young hotshot business executive – or thought I was – I stopped in a supermarket on my way home from work to pick a couple of small items.  Being impatient and self-absorbed as I was, I had failed to notice that the checkout lane I was in was closing.  So, when the lady at the register reminded me that her lane was closed, I became angry and spoke rudely to her.  But that was not the end of my shameful behavior; for the lady later sought me out, going out of her way to apologize for the inconvenience.  What did I do?  Rather than accepting her kind gesture I responded with another rude remark as I stormed out of the store.

I don’t think I made it home that evening before my conscience began to kick in, not that I did anything about it like go back and apologize to the lady.  But it did make me pause and remember how badly I hated it when someone yelled at me or treated me rudely.  How would I feel if I had been in her shoes having to endure the wrath of someone like me, I wondered?  That’s been almost forty-five years ago and it still haunts me, especially since I never went back to try to make amends.

The Golden Rule, as we know it, is perhaps the most basic and universal rule of life there is.  In his book The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus, Charles Manz says it “is probably the most powerful human relations strategy in the history of the world.  Its practice can indeed produce valuable, golden results.  The aim of treating people as we would like to be treated is to honor others as inherently valuable beings, as miraculous unique creations, no matter how seemingly imperfect and unworthy they are in their humanity.”

I also find it to be one of the core tenets in coaching leaders who often confess frustration in their ineffectiveness at communicating with others.  Most discover that the problem is not in their message, but in how they deliver it.  And all it takes is one simple question to raise their awareness.  “How do you like to be talked to?” I ask them.  Simple question, simple solution, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”  As Charles Manz says, practicing it “can indeed produce valuable, golden results.”  How often we forget that, just like I did in the supermarket all those years ago.  If it is the most basic and universal rule of life there is, I wonder how come it is so hard for us to live by?

“. . . if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.”  – 2 Timothy 2:5

When I was about eight years old, just big enough to play little league baseball, I got assigned to, what turned out to be, the best team in the league in our age division (no thanks to my contribution).  Being the team to beat that year, and everyone out to get us, there was this one particular game when the assigned home-plate umpire failed to show, upon which a plea went out among the spectators for someone to volunteer.  Finally, a man sitting in the opposing team’s bleachers raised his hand.  Except, by about the third inning it became obvious he was intent on throwing the game, calling balls strikes and strikes balls, calling players out when they were safe, and safe when they were out, all to the advantage of the opposing team who, in the end, did in fact win.

His actions were so blatant that everyone knew what he was doing – coaches on both sides, players, and spectators – yet no one intervened.  Cheating is hard to take any time, but at our tender age we could hardly imagine such a thing.  After all, it was totally contrary to what had been drilled into us by our parents, teachers, coaches, and Sunday School teachers throughout our young lives, to be honest and follow the rules.  But on that fateful day we lost our innocence as far as that was concerned.

We all have stories like that, don’t we?  And we all struggle with how people get away with dishonesty and breaking the rules, in sports and in life.  How did the guy living in the big mansion get by with swindling others?  How about a classmate who made the honor roll or won a scholarship after cheating on the exams?  Or what about the athletes who have gotten away with using steroids?

So much for the old adage that “winners never cheat, and cheaters never win.”  Right?  That is, unless you reconsider the definition of a winner, which is what my teammates and I learned from that little league game; for whatever behind-the-scenes conversations among the adults there may have been, we were instructed by our parents and coaches to not dwell on the incident and simply move forward in preparing to play the next game.  Theirs was a lesson in grace and forgiveness, making us the real winners, recipients of a lesson-of-a-lifetime, and a true “victor’s crown.”