Time to discard

Personal Photo: This was the first loaf of three that I made the other day. I have always been fascinated with being able to make something out of hardly anything. God does the same with us! By observing the world He created around us, we are able to learn! Discard first, nourish second!

I opened the oven door and immediately felt the heat roll into the room, warming my face and welcoming my nose to the scent of fresh sourdough bread. I pulled the Dutch oven out and set it out to cool for a bit before removing the lid to see how I did. This is only the second time I have ever made sourdough bread, and I have been learning a lot in the past few weeks about a starter, the versatile ways to use it, and the upkeep required to maintain it. I have wanted to jump into the world of sourdough for a while now, having been baking for the majority of my life, and my mom got me a kit about a month ago to get started. Every day, Clay and I would read the directions, add a little more flour and water to the small blob at the bottom of the jar, until the instructions ran out and we were left on our own to feed and maintain the starter. It took me about a week to realize that the instructions left out the important piece of information to discard almost half of the starter before feeding it every day. Since it took me so long to realize this, it became apparent that the majority of my current starter was nothing more than discard, which is sourdough starter that has not been fed (or fed enough, in my case) and therefore does not have that bubbly texture that is inherent to sourdough. I poured all of it into a bowl, except for a small amount, weighed out the proper measurements of flour and water, and began again with my starter, this time determined to have it healthy and bubbly.

Since then, I have been working my way through the discard, making and freezing pancakes, trying some soft pretzels, baking different flavors of crackers and muffins, biscotti, pizza crust and more. Keeping up with the starter itself has shown me how important it is to maintain it, to make sure I am feeding it one to two times per day, and discarding some so that it stays healthy, and I do not get overwhelmed with the amount. I decided this weekend to give the bread a go again. The first time I made it, it was before I was discarding, and I was sorely disappointed, especially considering the time commitment it takes to make a loaf. However, this time around, I was patient, I followed the directions to the decimal, and I was rewarded with three lovely loaves of warm bread filling up the house with delightful scents.

This sourdough experience has been nothing short of a journey for me from day one, and I consider myself blessed to be able to learn as I go, to get better, to try new things, to figure out a rhythm with being in the kitchen, using both the discard and the starter. It occurred to me that we, too, need to partake in discarding some of what we encounter in order to thrive. We cannot continue to just add more and more to our plates until we overflow, but rather we must weed out and dispose of the things in our lives that we no longer have room for, that are sucking our energy, and that overwhelm our lives when we need to simplify.

The truth is that we are all guilty of not feeding our souls enough, not making sure that we have nourished ourselves with the Word of the Lord because we find ourselves busy and burnt out, just trying to keep up. Along with this, we spend the time we should be feeding our souls, and we spend it on things that are not as important. We worry, we stress, we overthink, and more, and during all of this, we become deflated, run out of nourishment and fall flat. However, even though we find ourselves here sometimes, we have the chance to discard the things that take up too much space, to focus on the areas that need feeding, and replenish our souls with basking in the light of the Lord. We are told in 1 Peter 2:2 "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation." When we do this, when we feed ourselves with the Spirit, we nourish our souls and focus on the areas of growth.

Time is one of those beasts that we often wrestle with throughout life; it seems to go faster and faster, and we can't keep up with it. Because of this, we must learn to prioritize the most important things to us, and discard the things that do nothing but waste our time. Ephesians 5:15 commands us to "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." Here we are being told to value our time, to cherish it as a gift and make the most of it. When we spend our time with God, doing God's work, representing God's salvation, we are making the best use of the time. We can only do this when we remind ourselves not to worry, not to be careless with who we spend our time with and what we spend our time on. Instead, we can focus on the most important part of our lives, feed and maintain our souls rather than our sinful flesh, and can discard the things that distract us and drain our nourishment.

For my sourdough starter, there are plenty of reasons why it is important to discard some of it before feeding. According to My Daily Sourdough Bread, discarding "makes the starter easier to manage, helps maintain a balanced population of microorganisms, ensures a healthier starter, and eliminates the byproducts of fermentation that can build up over time and impact the starter negatively" (Read up on it here: Why Discard Sourdough Starter (Reasons and Benefits) (mydailysourdoughbread.com)). I find this so interesting when we apply it to spiritually feeding ourselves; when we remove all the noise surrounding our lives and practice removing the things that negatively impact us, we are healthier, can better maintain the curveballs the devil tries to throw at us, and can manage the incredibly challenging and unique experiences that God calls us to navigate. The sourdough starter is alive; it eats the sugars found in the flour given to it each day, and it depends on that nourishment to survive. Our souls are our lifeline, and they must be fed to survive too. There is nothing better to feed our souls with than the Words of the Lord. Jeremiah 15:16 reads "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts." We are refreshed, replenished, and restored when we feed our souls. As important as it is to discard what is not useful to us, it is just as important to nourish the parts we keep, the pieces of us that need to be fed.

Part of being human is learning how to edit; we must figure out a balance in our lives between the things we encounter and who we really are. Finding this balance is constant because it shifts as we grow through life. The only way to maintain balance in our lives is to discard the things that no longer nourish us, but rather have a negative impact. Only then can we maintain and feed our souls correctly. Discard first, nourish second. I am constantly surprised at the ways in which God speaks to us, and I am grateful that the Holy Spirit used something so close to me to teach me much more about life than just how to make a loaf of bread. We could all use the reminder to focus on our faith and to feed our souls when we try to take on too much. When we do this, we find ourselves replenished and our souls healthy with the living Spirit within!