Muffin Mondays – Marilyn R. Gardner

It’s Getting Cold

Published on December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 by Marilyn7 Comments

It’s getting cold.

I walk to work in the morning with my body bundled into a warm coat, my feet in boots, my head down to keep the wind from biting too fiercely. We who are on these streets walk quickly, there is no room for small talk or conversation. We are glad to get to our destinations and breathe, away from the wind and the cold.

It’s getting cold. Yet there are still homeless on my streets. There are still men and women huddled together, spooning under blankets for comfort, there are still signs that say “Homeless. Can you help?” Shivering in the morning wind, Charlie asks me for spare change. I get him a cup of coffee and move on.

Border crossing - Turkey Syria

It’s getting cold. And Syrian refugees in no man’s land are in flimsy tents with little to guard them from the incoming winter. Bare feet and no jackets for children of all ages, families that have nothing left, a system strained under fear and corruption that has to fight to make sure aid goes where it is most needed.

I am acutely aware of all of this as I take a hot shower and sit before a warm heater drinking hot coffee. It’s getting cold and there are so many without — without heat, without home, without family. I can hardly bear this, hardly bear the thought of millions of refugees that can’t keep warm or nourished. Hardly bear that I walk by homeless huddled for comfort.

“This is not the way life should be” I shout in my head to a silent Heaven.

It’s getting cold and I have my choice of 3 coats to wear and scarves line my closet. It’s getting cold and I have warm sweaters and food, heat and light. I pray the only prayer that makes sense: “Lord Have Mercy” adding a question to the end of the prayer:

“How can I bring warmth to a world that is so cold?”

How do we bring warmth to a world that is cold?

********************

I don’t know about you, but I find baking healing. Especially when the goods can be shared. Stacy has an amazing recipe today: Date Syrup Raisin Muffins. One of the things I love about Stacy is that she links stories to her recipes. Here is what she says about this recipe: “This week on Monday, 2 December, the UAE celebrates its 42nd National Day so I decided to create a muffin with some local-ish flavors. This muffin is made with date honey or syrup and cardamon along with some cinnamon and raisins. For those who can’t find date honey, molasses is an excellent substitute both in deep flavor and consistency.” If you try these muffins – let us know! Either click on the picture or the link above to get to the recipe.

Gratitude – Number 245 & Muffin Monday

Published on October 28, 2013October 29, 2013 by Marilyn8 Comments

In my worn journal I look back until I find it — Number 245. I’m frantic to find it, it seems crucial to the day.

It’s written in slightly messy, black cursive, as if the writer was in a hurry. The journal is 39 pages of thanks — my first foray into giving thanks in a concrete way, a way where I can look back.

Number 245 is squeezed between ‘Les Miserables – stories of grace’, and ‘rental cars’, as if an afterthought. But it’s there as I knew it would be.

The words are ‘Monday Mornings’ and then in brackets beside the words ‘knowing I can’t do it on my own’. And it’s true. I can’t. What is true every day, that I can’t do this alone, comes with a force on Monday.

It’s as though God is whispering to me, urging me to remember. Urging me to remember that it is He who redeems Mondays, who takes me from Sunday’s rest through Monday’s unknown, who reminds me I can’t do this on my own. The words of author Ann Voskamp, challenged to speak words of gratitude through her pen, through keeping a journal that resulted in the book One Thousand Gifts, resonate:

“That which I refuse to give thanks for, I refuse to believe Christ can redeem”

So I thank God for number 245 in my list of One Thousand Gifts: Monday Mornings (knowing I can’t do it on my own).

“But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.” Aslan to Jill in The Silver Chair

***********************

I love the muffin cookbook I am getting through connecting with Stacy and today’s recipe is a perfect fall Muffin: Pumpkin Pie Muffins. They’re called ‘Pumpkin Pie Muffins’ because they are made with canned pumpkin and the same spices as pumpkin pie. Stacy promises that the whole house will smell like you’ve been baking pie. Either click on the above link or the picture to get to the recipe.

Spice Your Monday with All the Wrinkled Ladies
Echoes of Reconciliation on a Monday Morning
Pumpkin Wholewheat Muffins (riskiwulandari11.wordpress.com)
Pumpkin Apple Muffins (spartyscafe.wordpress.com)

Velvet, Steel, & Muffins

Published on August 19, 2013 by Marilyn9 Comments

Everyone needs a friend who is velvet and steel. A friend who exudes grace, but isn’t afraid to speak pure, raw truth into our lives. A friend who sees us clearly, knows how to rebuke and love.

Velvet and Steel.

A few months ago I was talking to my velvet and steel friend and the subject of my Monday posts came up. It wasn’t negative but she did say that I should go back and look at my Monday writing. “There’s a theme running through them”, she said. “That of trying to reconcile your Sundays with your Mondays”.

The Holy Ache of living in the not yet.

She’s right. My Monday mornings reflect the wonderful and awful tension of living in the in between. I don’t think this tension will ever end. I think it’s the tension of all of humanity. We are able to experience glimpses of grace that leave us longing for more, longing for something greater when all will be made whole in our broken, beautiful planet. A time when there will no longer be tension between Sunday and Monday.

Sunday is my velvet, Monday is my steel. I know I need both. If I lived in a world of Sundays, I would be little use to anyone. If Mondays were my only reality, I would despair.

So I’m adding something lovely to the tension that I know will continue.

Muffins. Yes. Muffins.

Because there is something perfect about mixing muffins with Mondays. About knowing that there is something so purely good about muffins, something so practical, affordable, and lovely. Muffins make Mondays more bearable.

I am delighted to partner with Stacy Rushton author of Food Lust, People Love. You’ll like what she does with stories and food, weaving her stories through her recipes. Today’s muffins are Peach Blueberry Muffins and I can’t wait to try them. Just click on the link or the picture and you’ll have yourself a new recipe!