I made a double batch of muffins last night in preparation for a prayer meeting this morning. I used my daughter-in-law’s recipe for applesauce muffins which has become a family favorite. As they baked, their delightful aroma wafted through the kitchen into the family room where I sat waiting for them to finish.

The timer sounded and I went into the kitchen to remove the muffins from the oven. I opened the oven door and saw that they were a beautiful golden brown. I placed the tins on the counter and saw that the muffins had not raised properly – they seemed half the height they should have been.  I waited for them to cool a bit before tasting one of them. I removed one muffin from the tin and took a bite.  Taste? – great.  Texture? – not so great.  I wondered what could have gone wrong. I went back to the recipe and realized that I had left out one important ingredient – the baking soda. So my applesauce muffins turned out to be more like applesauce hockey pucks. Edible, but not wonderful.

I wonder how often we realize that we, ourselves, could be that baking soda. Just ½ teaspoon –a small amount in comparison to the whole, but it makes such a huge difference in the outcome. We, each one of us, are an ingredient in a mix – like a family, a church, or an office. If we are missing from the mix, whatever factor we bring to it is missing and the result is less than it could have been.

Because I am in the church realm, I think of people who are missing from our mix, especially since the Covid-19 “epidemic” hit.  We were taken out of our normal routines, our normal mixes and it’s become easy to just settle for where we are now instead of returning to our part of the whole.

I think of people who, because of some offense or disagreement, have taken themselves out of their mix, not realizing that they could have been the ingredient that was needed to make things better or to enhance the outcome of the mix.

And so our muffins are tough and flat instead of fluffy and delectable. Please — if you are the baking soda — BE THE BAKING SODA!  Be the change that you want to see. Be the influence that God created you to be. You are needed, and you are missed. And – you are missing out as well, because you’re sitting in your baking soda box, not being used as you were created to be used.