Breadmaking: an act of faith

Once again, I have given my best effort in the making of prosphora - the holy bread used in the Orthodox Church for Communion. I can't say that I've exactly mastered the art, but I have managed to produce a few acceptable loaves for use at our parish of St. John the Baptist. Nevertheless, this latest attempt truly seemed full of life lessons for me.

1) I can do nothing without God.

While baking bread, the most stressful part (for me at least) is making sure the yeast works. Waiting anxiously for the bubbling, foaming sign that, yes, it's ready now, before adding it to the flour and water truly feels like forever. And even then - is the air pressure right? is the oven too hot? too cold? will it raise properly? did I leave it long enough? what, exactly, is double the size? Although I add all the right ingredients and give it the right environment, this is a part of the process that seems entirely out of my control. Anything could happen and result in a flat mass of dough (this has happened to me before). I suppose much of this will come with more practice (I've only made it about 3 time so far), but I find myself in these tense moments, prayer fervently that God will bless the work of my hands and produce an acceptable offering.

Similar to the process of baking bread, I've noticed a similar pattern in life. Oftentimes, we must make large decisions - take this job, move to this city, etc. - with a sense that the ultimate outcome is entirely out of our control. We add the right "ingredients" (research, planning, prayer, preparations), but there's a mechanism in the dough-rising process that we can't quite control. And so, we pray that we may produce with our lives an offering acceptable to God.

2) I can do nothing without my own effort.
Although this seems contradictory to the last lesson, it is in fact quite complementary. While I definitely rely on God to grant my bread dough to rise, I must also add to it my own effort. I can't have bread unless I first mix the flour and the water, add the yeast, and then knead (sometimes 45 minutes!) till all the air bubbles are gone and it is no longer sticky. A great deal of my own personal effort must go into this bread - I suppose it would not be considered a "sacrifice" otherwise.

Similarly, in life, God will bless our efforts - but we must first put for the effort! We cannot ask God to grant us grace to give liberally to the poor, and then go out to eat every weekend, see one or two movies a week, and buy every new electronic gadget that hits the market. Some amount of our own effort is necessary if we are to grow in the grace of God, be it budgeting money or time, showing up that extra half hour on Sunday morning to help set up coffee hour, or that extra hour to hear all of the Orthros (Matins) service.

So, with this combination of my effort and God's blessings, God produces (note, I did not say "I produce") an offering acceptable to Him.