Have you ever tried to make yeast breads? I grew up making quick breads like biscuits or muffins. We threw a little baking powder in with the other ingredients and they rose and baked up so well. Perfect every time.
Then when the boys were little, I decided to venture out, so I bought a book about yeast breads and decided to try. The trick when working with yeast is that it takes time. You mix the dough, you knead it, you let it rise. Then you often need to let it rise a second time. This takes time and patience and the right environment in the room. Sometimes my dough rose and sometimes it didn’t. But we read in Matthew 13 about leaven or yeast that always works.
He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” – Matthew 13:33
Whether we see it or not, the kingdom of heaven is advancing and growing here in the earth as the hearts and lives of people -you and I- are being transformed day by day. But the transformation process is often painful and slow and tedious and requires much patience. It is so easy to become frustrated with ourselves and others when we don’t see the outworking of the inner process that is taking place. We think, “I should know better,” or “I should do better,” or “I should not get offended,” or “They should know better, do better and be nicer.”
But little by little and day after day, as we are faithful to listen and hear and apply God’s word to our life, it is like leaven that is growing in our lives, transforming us, changing us and making us more like Jesus.
Jesus, help us to be patient with ourselves and others in this ongoing transformation process in our lives and thank you for your mercy and grace that is new every morning.