Beautiful Process: Becoming Wine, Becoming Bread

This will not be a life-is-a-beach kind of post .

But if you’re in the process of becoming wine or bread you will find rest in the hope of this miraculous process.

Picture the process:

Individual kernels of wheat separated by protective coats of chaff swinging in the late summer sun, rattling small sounds of ripeness. Off in the distance the sound of harvesters seems nonthreatening at first but it grows louder and louder and then all at once the sharp blade cuts each head of grain from its life source. After a series of jostlings near violent, a small kernel of grain emerges only to lose all identity under the grinding stone. Now part of a body, a body of purpose, another process begins and bread becomes food.

Now imagine a bunch of grapes separated by coats of skin dusted with yeast. They too hear the far off sound as the autumn sun dawns and begins to warm the juices protected. Closer and closer the innocent sounds come down the row and with a quick pull and slice of a blade the juicy jewels are cut forever from their source. By the end of the day, each jewel will lose its separating identity and flow into purposes beyond its individual power. The yeast will consume the sugar and the transformative powers of process turn juice into wine.

You, Christ’s beloved, are becoming bread and wine. Let the laying down of your individuality be embraced as the most important part of the process. Only then can you become what His glory intends: bread for this age and wine drunk anew in the next.