Nooks and Crannies

There are English muffins on my kitchen counter.
Someone used the last one this morning and took another bag from the freezer.
Nooks and crannies.
Spaces to hold butter, honey, peanut butter, jelly, or anything you choose.

Regular bread is a bit different.
It is still delicious and nutritious whether toasted or not.
Yet whatever you spread on your bread simply stays on the top.
It doesn’t sink in.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Iowa invented the first bread-slicing machine.
He built the prototype in 1912 but it was destroyed in a fire.
It was not until 1928 that a working “loaf-at-a-time” bread-slicing machine was available.
In 1930, Wonder Bread started marketing sliced bread nationwide.

And the rest is history.
We have a phrase in our daily colloquialism that we say to praise a new invention.
One will hear: It is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

But give me the nooks and crannies.
Give me the little spaces for whatever I choose to spread on top.
One popular brand of English muffins had an appropriate advertising slogan.
Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Samuel Bath Thomas was an innovator and entrepreneur.
He created the Original “Nooks & Crannies” English muffin.
He came to this country and opened his own bakery in New York City in 1880.

Nooks and crannies are not only in English muffins.
They are in us as well.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be My people and I will be their God.
(Ezekiel 11:19,20)

Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Before the Holy Spirit changes us, our hearts are crunchy, hard, and obstinate.
Nothing sinks in.
After we are transformed by the Holy Spirit, we receive a new heart; a heart of flesh.
Our heart becomes pliable, teachable, soft enough to be molded into the image of Jesus.

Crunchy hearts are hard hearts.
Crunchy hearts want nothing to do with the things of God.
Once the Holy Spirit transforms, the heart softens; nooks and crannies appear.
Nooks and crannies that are filled with the Holy Spirit and produce fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22)

It is so important to bear fruit.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:16-20)

We recognize English muffins by their nooks and crannies.
We recognize a believer in Jesus Christ by their nooks and crannies as well.
Nooks and crannies filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will fill up every nook and cranny of your heart.
The fruit of the Spirit goes down deep.
The fruit of the Spirit lasts.

Can you see it?
Can you smell it?
Toasted English muffin with nooks and crannies filled with good things.
Lives so filled with the Holy Spirit, every nook and cranny exudes the fruit of the Spirit.

Delicious smells of Life.
Delectable taste of Fruit.
Every nook and cranny filled to His Glory.

 

 

2 responses to “Nooks and Crannies”

1. Thank you so much for the great analogy! It really got me thinking deeper into the truths of God’s word.

   Reply

   • You are welcome, Laura.
     If we look, we can see God everywhere!
     Gina

     Reply