Our Daily Bread

This morning the first thing that popped into my head was that I should make bread.

It so happens that I often get impressions right there on the border of sleep and waking -- and in the moment I can't be sure if it is inspiration or random thoughts bubbling up. Either way, why ignore it?

Our stake president has encouraged us to ask in prayer each day what the Lord would have us do that day, listen, and follow through with the impressions that come, however insignificant they may seem.

Henry B. Eyring put it this way:
A morning prayer and an early search in the scriptures to know what we should do for the Lord can set the course of a day. We can know which task, of all those we might choose, matters most to God and therefore to us. I have learned such a prayer is always answered if we ask and ponder with childlike submission, ready to act without delay to perform even the most humble service.

So I am trying to act on impressions I have, including those that come unbidden. Even if I'd rather make cookies. Which is why today I ended up making bread... and cookies.

As I rolled out the bread dough and shaped the loaves, I experienced a distinct feeling of pure satisfaction. It was enough for me to pause and contemplate how much I enjoy baking and working in the kitchen and wonder why don't I do it more? I pondered my relationship with domesticity as I turned the loaves into the pans and set them in the oven to rise.

I washed and dried the Kitchenaid bowl and beater and started on the cookies. I chopped and mixed and stirred and felt good as I spilled flour and pecans and re-dirtied the kitchen counter, a few of the dishes I had just washed, and several more.

The bread came out, the first trays of cookies went in, and I waited.

I waited for an impression -- who needed bread today? But except for the memory that my friend Michele won the bidding on my 100% whole wheat bread at our Relief Society service auction, I got nothing.

Anna's after-school snack was fresh bread. "Mom, you make the best bread in the whole world." Middle-school Kate came into the house purring, "Oooooohhh, did someone make bread for me? It smells so good!"

And I was so glad I had made bread.

And the thought came to me that, perhaps, making bread today was for me.