Home | Articles | Poetry | About The Author | Contact Us |
Breadcrumbs have been on my mind lately. Just yesterday two bags were removed out of our pantry in order to be used up, or at least put a big dent in, before the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread festival season arrives shortly in just a few weeks. On the preparation day just gone some of these breadcrumbs came in very handy for crumbing Garfish fillets and we enjoyed them last night for our evening dinner before sunset arrived. This year the preparation to remove leavening has begun in a quiet but purposeful way by using up items for our meals and to take to share with others on the Sabbath such as home made banana cakes with self raising flour which contains baking powder. For years I always followed this recipe dutifully but now I have added more of "this and that" (eggs, butter and vanilla essence) by experimenting a bit with creative flair and the result is incredibly moist and moreish — never mind it only took most of my life to get there. With age I guess experience benefits us to take an educated guess at times, even for those of us who do not like taking risks. Safe to say that there will be no returning to the old recipe for the future.
Past years have always proved to have products containing leavening found and no time to use them all up therefore some have been given away or thrown in the bin which feels wasteful to me therefore this year more notice is being taken while being alert and diligent in the month prior to the deleavening day. So far so good. What is noticeable is that many things contain leavening agents, not just bread, bread products, crackers, cakes, and frozen foods but mostly anything that has been processed. Parts of our house such as the pantry and kitchen are zones where we expect to find lots of crumbs. The dining room also with the buffet cupboards which contain snack items are on our hit list along with the lounge room too. Then there is the spare bedroom which is now the computer room where food is consumed by some of us while tapping away on the keyboard. Other than that, the remainder of the house we do not bring food into. Our car is a mobile dining space with lots of takeaway coffees and various foods taken to share with others on outings such as picnics, potlucks, family events, and the usual weekly Sabbath fellowship goodies. It takes quite a bit of time to deleaven the family car. If only the seats could be taken out by unclipping them to reveal the nooks and crannies that are impossible to see and clean. And so we tackle the rest of what we can see with our best efforts. The thing is there is time and much effort involved in order to deleaven spaces.
One year I threw the toaster away as I got so frustrated with it. Admittedly it was rather old and had done its service from 1999 when purchased. Then a church member advised this was not necessary so I retrieved it from the top of the council bin where it was carefully nestled between some clean boxes. Feeling a bit silly I realised that I was on a quest for perfection. Since those early days after conversion, each year different lessons have been clear with a few mistakes made which were not intentional. Those lessons can be quite funny with the benefit of hindsight when one realises that distractions and automatic mode play a part of our everyday busy lives. If you are going to take shortcuts then be prepared to disappoint yourself as this is not the time to be so doing. One year I paid almost $100 to have my car detailed which means somebody else cleaned the inside and outside most thoroughly, thereby saving me a couple of hours. Corners were cut as the decision was made that I was "time poor" (self justification) but this will no longer be an option for me. Since the early days of keeping this festival I now am firmly convinced and convicted that it is nobody else's responsibility to get rid of leavening agents for me on my behalf. This work and attention to detail is what I am accountable for. After all, it is my sin and this is what yeast and leavening agents represent — sin. There is work involved and we must be dedicated and prepared to put in the time necessary.
Some of my memories include bringing readymade hot chickens – who doesn't love hot chook?! Because of being time poor with full time work, single parent, and so forth, I thought this would be a clever thing to do but when cut open in front of others there was the offending item glaring at us — stuffing made from breadcrumbs. Oh no!!! Thankfully the more experienced brethren laughed and took it all in their stride while "I held my breath" in shock over how clueless I had been. Now I can smile over this and have seen others make the same mistake. Experience is what we are having and we need to go through these things in order to help others. One year, in fact my first time keeping Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread for which I took the whole week off, my dearest friend who is so supportive of my calling yet does not keep the Sabbath herself, came over to visit. We had a lovely time chatting animatedly over coffee and biscuits she brought with her. She insisted leaving the unopened packet for me and after she left I thought to myself I had better check out all the ingredients. Whammy! Yeast listed as plain as day. Really disappointed with myself as totally and understandably distracted in the process of enjoying her company. Once again, not intentional and thankfully God knows the intention of our hearts. This lesson showed me that yeast can sneak in via unexpected ways and sin can be just like that — all around us.
Another time, and I think this occurred more than once for me to finally get it — the contents of the vacuum cleaner left inside the machine to sit there throughout the whole holy day season instead of being emptied and disposed of. It was full of breadcrumbs and yeast! Thankfully God understands that we are not able to grasp everything all at once and straight away as we are humans striving to do our best but we will always fall short until we are changed to be made perfect like Jesus Christ. Along the way God has shown me mercy many times over and this was quite a foreign concept to me over my lifetime until converted. Mercy is powerful and we have a duty to show mercy to others too as they grow and learn from living God's way. The more experience we have by keeping God's festivals, the more we learn over the years, and the more help and direction we can give to the less experienced thereby we are teaching, guiding and loving our brethren with Agape love while practicing patience. This flow on effect will take the rest of our lives to learn the many lessons God has for us so that we will be ready for His Kingdom (Philippians 1:6 is most encouraging).
Prior to coming into God's way the bulk of my life had been as a pagan, lapsed Catholic, and full of myself disguised under deception. God pulled me out of that hot mess of confusion and all that went with living unrighteously. Breadcrumbs to me was just a word associated with cooking and also with one of my favourite childhood stories of Hansel and Gretel, dropping crumbs along the ground of the enchanted forest in order to get back home again to safety. There was a nasty witch in that story who dressed herself up to look enticing and friendly but we know all the sweet stuff she offered came at a big price — the very life of the children. Yes indeed, the wicked witch symbolises Satan the devil always trying to tempt us while disguised as an angel of light as in 2 Corinthians 11:14. Unlike Hansel and Gretel in the fairytale, we are to get rid of every piece of bread and breadcrumb, meaning we are not to trust in our own might physically as it is no match for the evil devil. We lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) but rightly divide every word of God (2 Timothy 2:15) in order to glean wisdom of what God's holy days symbolize and mean.
Today the word breadcrumbs for me is associated with yeast, a leavening agent which causes consumable products to puff up, rise and expand. This is what God tells us to remove from our homes and property prior to the Days of Unleavened Bread so that none will be found amongst us. Scripture reveals this in Exodus 12:14-20 (repeated in Exodus 13, 23, 34, then Leviticus 23, and Deuteronomy 16). Repetition is important to notice for our learning and is not random or some coincidence that God accidentally repeated Himself. It is purposeful by design to get our attention. Notice what God says in Exodus 12:16 — that the food is to be prepared by OUR OWN HANDS? There is an important reason for this because we will be protected by knowing exactly every ingredient within the dishes we prepare. If I had noticed this part of scripture early on then the hot chickens containing stuffing would have not happened. We must concentrate by paying very close and careful attention to every word from God, and not be tempted to take any more shortcuts if you are like me when struggling with time.
During God's first annual festival of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread we fill up on unleavened bread by making homemade flatbreads and crackers, plus we also have Matzos on hand too. There is another product we like a lot named "Lavosh" made in Australia by Kurrajong Kitchen, a family owned business, who bake a large selection of crackers without any yeast and eggs, no or low sugar, no added preservatives, but with a variety of tasty additions including garlic, caramelized onion and salt, poppy and sesame seeds, herbs, pepper, rosemary and salt. Adding butter enhances these crackers and it is easy to consume more than a handful. Do we miss bread, cakes, and biscuits during these 7 days? No, not at all as the yummy replacements are great on the palate, healthier than the standard sandwich loaf, and it reinforces that it is worth the effort to be conscious in all our choices. We also find that shortbread bickies are a nice option if one wants a sweet biscuit choice as no leavening is used. There are plenty of online recipes to make a batch of these to take for the Night To Be Much Remembered/Observed and the Days of Unleavened Bread if desirous of something to dunk in your cup of tea/coffee or to just bite into and munch on between sips of your hot beverage of choice.