Bread.

This is what my time with God often looks like.

I used to think it had to look and sound a certain way for it to count as time with God. I spent a lot of time frustrated trying to make time with God look like that. I’m learning all my time can be time with God. One of my favorite books helps remind me of that: that Every Moment [is] Holy. That’s what the book is called.

Sourdough bread makes me think about God, and that’s what I like most about making it.

Sourdough needs to be fed, especially before you make a bread out of it. It reminds me I’m a body that craves to be fed, and I’m also a soul that craves to be fed.

Thinking about being a soul and a body is a good thing to think about.

It reminds me the girls in my house are souls and bodies. My neighbors are souls and bodies. My church is made up of souls and bodies.

They must be important, then. At least as important as I think I am.

Sourdough reminds me that just like my body craves bread, my soul craves bread. The bread of life. That’s what Jesus called Himself, which sounds strange.

But it makes a lot of sense when I make sourdough bread.

My soul craves Jesus. It always has I guess, it just craves Him in different ways than it used to since He's what my soul started feeding on.

I used to feed my soul the wrong things because it craved the wrong things, too.

Craves the wrong things, too.

It never works. It never comes out right. Just like sourdough. If you feed it something else besides flour and water, the bread won’t come out right. Actually, if you don’t feed it the right things often, the sourdough will die.

My soul craves Jesus because it was made by Jesus, and for Jesus. And He made it new.

My body was made by Jesus too, so then I start thinking about how my body craves Him the only way it can now; until it’s a new body. This is also a good thing to think about. My body will be made new, like my soul is being made new. I’m thinking all of this because I’m making sourdough bread. And because Jesus is making me new.

I tell Him thanks.

Sourdough also takes a long time to make. Or, it takes a long time until it’s made.

There’s actually not a lot of work that goes into it, just a lot of time. The dough has to rest a lot. This reminds me I need to rest. God says I need to rest. I don’t always do that. Making sourdough is a good gauge on that for me. If I don’t have time to make sourdough bread in the week, I’m probably not listening well.

Not resting well.

Not feeding my soul well.

Sometimes it’s one of those. Sometimes it’s all of those.

Then when I think about all of this, I remember a Psalm that says "Who do I have in heaven but you?" I start saying that to Jesus. That there’s nothing on earth I desire besides Him.

That doesn’t always feel true. And I don’t always say that to Him. But it is true. And I’d like to say it to Him more often.

Just like what this sourdough needs, that’s how I need Him. Then I want to read the whole Psalm, so I Google it and it’s Psalm 73. I like Psalm 73. I end up reading some of it while I’m making sourdough bread.

Then it reminds me of a song that I can’t find, so I end up playing a different song that does come up. Now I’m singing about (to? with?) Jesus while I make sourdough bread. I know Jesus prays, but I start to wonder if He sings. How He sings. I remember reading that God sings over His people.

That will be a good way to spend time with him tomorrow, trying to figure out where that is and what it means. I may not arrive at an answer, but I’ll read more trying, and probably go down a wormhole on bibleproject.com. That’s always a good time spent with Him. I make a note in my phone, "look up where God sings" that I might forget about. But I know I’ll make sourdough soon, and I'll probably remember again.

You don’t have to make sourdough bread, cause that may not make you think about God, or read about God, or sing about God. But find a moment, or a book, or an illustration, or a song, or a friend, or a favorite cup or place to take a walk that does make you think about God.

That moment is probably Holy.