Fruitful Homemaker

You can’t fake kindness for too long.

This verse reminds me of Matthew 15:18, “...what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…” We find it much easier to be kind in public when our reputation is on the line but at home our families see our genuine hearts most often.

In Mary Beeke’s book, The Law of Kindness, she writes “Our children must feel our love and affection. As parents, we need to express it in words and actions. The manner in which we display our love changes with the age of our children, but affection is life-long. Start young and never stop.”

The way we engage and talk to our children and spouse shows a direct line to our heart. How easy it is to snip and say something cruel or react unlovingly when we are angry or hurt inside. It takes much effort to not speak or act in the way we are feeling at the moment but to have words of wisdom and kindness pour out.

Mary writes, “From the thoughts flow the words and actions. You can’t say “I love you!” too much. It is a good thing to get used to. If you don’t get in the habit of it at a young age, it will be very difficult to say even when you really want to. Let your hugs and kisses and cuddling flow as well.”

What a good reminder. Let’s pray for kindness to be on our tongues and most importantly in our hearts.

Here is the recipe from the podcast episode with Ms. Kalen! I will be honest this one has taken many tries to get right and still sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way I’d like.

Sourdough takes a lot of trial and error so try not to get frustrated if it takes a few more tries to get right. What I like to do is right down the exact measurements and steps I took with the bread and then see what I could change here and there to try out next time.

So far I have added a fourth cup more of starter, one and three-fourths cup of water, and I sift my bread flour when adding it to the bowl to help with any clumps that can form.

The taste and texture of this bread will be different from your typical sourdough recipe. This one is baked in loaf pans, the inside is moist, and outside is soft and buttery.

Watch the video and/or join me on my Instagram stories to see how to make the starter and dough! The starter is saved on my highlights to my Instagram page!

Our hearts and minds can be so easily distracted by what the world seems to offer us. Paul reminds the Colossians that they used to live by the world, as we did before the Lord saved us, but they must put away things like sexual immortality, anger, obscene talk, slander, lying, etc and put on their new self made by God.

In Colossians 3:12-14 he writes, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

We have the strong pull to do good works out of selfish ambition and pride. Paul writes in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

In your patience, kindness, and good works remember to do them for the Lord. Remember they are His good deeds and His fruit bearing in your life. I encourage you to read over this chapter, study it, and pray for the Lord to enable His good work to blossom in your life for your good and His glory.

It took me 3-4 tries on my own before I finally got this recipe right and the bread tasting good.

This is not your typical sourdough bread. It is made in loaf form and is moister than regular sourdough. This recipe comes from Kalen’s grandma’s old church cookbook made from a woman named Betty. Kalen’s family believes this recipe is over 100 years old and have changed some ingredients and amounts. Kalen’s grandparents have made it for many years and now Kalen makes it on a weekly basis.

This starter is pretty simple but takes some effort in planning when to feed it and when you can make your bread. I usually write down each feeding date in a notebook I keep in the kitchen and keep track of when I need to feed it next to keep the starter alive! Tomorrow I will be making this starter on my Instagram story if you’d like to follow along!

The potato flakes are found from packaged instant mashed potatoes! You have to get the original, non flavored flakes. I keep them in a storage container in the pantry so they will stay fresh longer.

I will be posting the bread recipe on March 4th so that should give you the time needed to complete the starter beforehand!