Lessons From Leavening and a 3-Year-Old

Our congregation is doing a food collection for a local charity. Since we are in the midst of deleavening our homes before the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with all the spiritual lessons that brings (Exodus 12:15; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8), we conveniently timed the food collection so that we can donate any unused leavened products.

In preparation, I set out all of my leavened items so I could evaluate what I have. I also went ahead and set out my baking soda and baking powder.

Grandson with a ghostly look

I ran down to the laundry room for a couple of minutes and came back upstairs to find a very guilty looking 3-year-old grandson who had a ghostly look about his face and clothes. You guessed it—the pretty orange baking soda box just seemed like it should contain something yummy.

It was in his hair, on his clothes, on the kitchen table and all over our wooden plank floor (complete with little grooves that baking soda can hide in). I asked where the box was. He said, “It’s here somewhere.”

“Somewhere” turned out to be the hall linen closet where he had flung the box to hide it from Grandma. Of course, on his back swing to throw it in the closet, the pretty orange box managed to belch baking soda across the hall into the bathroom, again, into the little grooves around the door jam.

Learning from leavening

I have always found the time when I am cleaning leavening as a great time to meditate on the analogies and lessons of leavening to sin. So here are a few my grandson is helping me learn.

Lesson #1: You have to get rid of sin completely…and not just leave it sitting on the table.

Lesson #2: If you try to hide your sin instead of dealing with it, you make a bigger mess (and Grandma has to rewash all of the linens).

Lesson #3: There are always people who will have fun spreading your sins around, so make sure you are above reproach.

And Lesson #4: Sometimes sin looks so attractive (in its pretty orange box) that we fail to recognize that it is bad.

What lessons have you learned from removing leavening? Please share them on our Facebook page.

Mary Clark is a mother, grandmother and minister’s wife.