Read: Romans 8:28-29; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Trey was excited because today Grandma was finally going to teach him how to make her famous molasses bread. As Dad dropped him off and waved goodbye, Trey could already taste the rich, fluffy bread and the salty crunch of toasted oats on top.

Grandma welcomed Trey with a hug and led him into the kitchen. They used sign language to communicate because Trey was deaf. Grandma signed “flour,” “molasses,” “yeast,” and “spoon.” Trey scurried around the kitchen to find the ingredients while Grandma started mixing.

As they added more and more ingredients, a dark and gooey dough formed. Grandma placed a towel over the dough bowl before gently setting it in a sunny part of the kitchen.

“Why doesn’t the dough look like bread yet?” Trey signed.

Grandma smiled. “The dough must rise before it goes in the oven.”

That made sense to Trey. After an hour and a half, they checked the dough. It was double the size and very poofy. Grandma punched down the dough before laying it on the pan and putting it in the oven.

Trey frowned. The dough still didn’t look like bread. It didn’t look tasty at all. Did Grandma forget something?

He asked her this, and she replied, “Just you wait and see.”

When Grandma took the tray out of the oven, Trey was nervous. But the bread looked perfect, smelled perfect, and tasted even better than perfect.

As they ate, Grandma said, “You know, making bread reminds me of what it’s like to become God’s new creation.”

Trey shrugged, confused. Grandma continued. “Before we put our trust in Jesus, we are like raw, scattered ingredients—we don’t have a purpose. We are controlled by our wrong desires and deserve death because of our sin. But Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead so we could have new life and live with Him forever. Jesus gives us a purpose—to love Him and others and become more like Him. Just like the dough needs the oven to become bread, we need Jesus to be saved from sin and be made new.”

Trey nodded eagerly and took Grandma’s hand to pray. Somehow this seemed even better than Grandma’s famous molasses bread.

–Hannah Chung

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