It all started when I read a high school friend’s Facebook post about growing sourdough starter from scratch. My interest was aroused. A few weeks later, I was surprised and delighted when I was gifted a small jar of sourdough starter. I soon delved deep into the sourdough world, where I learned it is customary to give a starter a name. My high school friend named hers Lucy Ricardough; other popular names include Jane Dough and Edgar Allan Dough. Because I am a musician, I named my starter Dough-re-mi.
Dough-re-mi did its job admirably, and I was amazed. After a sourdough baking frenzy that lasted several weeks, I began to notice something: there are lessons to be learned from sourdough.
If left at room temperature, sourdough starter must be fed a mixture of flour and water at least once a day; if stored in the refrigerator, it must be fed at least once a week. If neglected, the starter will die and will no longer be useful in breadmaking. Christians, likewise, need to be fed. Matthew 5:6 states, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
I learned quickly that I must only fill a Mason jar half full of starter, because otherwise, it will bubble right out of the jar. Christians should grow, too. II Peter 3:18 admonishes us: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:10 tells us we should “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. . .”
Friends, family members, and neighbors were thrilled when I gave them loaves of fresh, homemade sourdough bread. Already, two friends want some of my starter. Oddly, I’m in no danger of running out of sourdough starter. I can always grow more. In the same way, when we share the love of Jesus, our supply of love is never diminished. In John 13:34, Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Making sourdough bread is a process, so I learned to bake when I planned to be at home all day. One website warns sourdough bakers to “watch the bread, not the clock.” Likewise, we often tend to want God to do things on our own timetable. Sometimes, we are even impatient with God when we ask him to make us more Christlike. The good news, however, is that even though we sometimes feel like nothing more than blobs of sourdough starter, we will one day be great loaves of bread.
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” –John 6:35
