Banana Bread, Adversity, and Transformation

This is my favorite banana bread. It’s a sourdough version and it is divine. You can use either active sourdough or sourdough discard and it turns out beautifully either way. The secret is in weighing your ingredients and cooking it at 360 degrees. If you do this, it turns out perfect EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. At least, it has for me.

Life, however, is not like this banana bread recipe. It’s variable and unpredictable and applying the same mindset, or behaviors, to each problem doesn’t always produce the results we would like.

The last three months have been challenging for me, to say the least. One of my physical foundational needs has been disrupted in a big way and it has taken a toll on my ability to function energetically the way I used to. I was able to keep up for a few weeks, but eventually the deficit caught up with me and I pretty much stopped creating and began resting. A lot. In fact, I rested so much I became bored. And I’m NEVER bored!

Boredom eventually gave way to overwhelm and tears. And then…

Something shifted.

I believe all challenges are educators – they can teach us something important about ourselves and our lives, so I began looking for the lessons in earnest. Sure, I’d noticed a few benefits early on, like slowing down and processing emotional pain I’d been ignoring, but the longer my circumstances remained the deeper the insights became. And I have found many.

But it wasn’t just enlightenment or understanding that God wanted to give me. It wasn’t just rest either. He wanted to give me opportunities. One of those opportunities was the challenge to decide (and then act upon) how I would live if this situation never resolved. When I made that decision and started acting upon it, I felt an energetic shift within me.

Change.

Change is not just mental understanding, it is choice and action. The moment I accepted my reality, made efforts to live the best I could with what is, and felt and expressed gratitude to God for what I did have, a shift occurred. No, I wasn’t miraculously healed, but I felt different energetically, and that difference revived hope and possibility within me – and THAT creates space for healing to begin.

Another opportunity that has come to me through this experience has been the decision to practice something I have been wanting to master, but lacked the motivation to pursue because it required more time in stillness than I was able to give (because of my constant massive pool of projects). However, I understood that, if mastered, this practice had the power to not only change my life in many significant ways, but also to elevate my relationship with God to a level beyond anything I have experienced thus far. Of course that’s worth sacrificing for! But sometimes it’s hard to arrest the rapid momentum of life and insert something new and slow in its place. But once I chose, and begin practicing this thing, my hope and belief in this next phase of spirituality began to grow. I sense there are beautiful truths to be uncovered on this path. And I make a daily effort to incorporate this practice into my life now so that I can reap the rewards.

While a few things in life can be “perfect”, like this banana bread, most things are not. However, I believe all things work for our ultimate good if we choose to witness our experiences, learn from them, and work with them instead of against them. So, in case you’re feeling a little discouraged and need something “perfect” in your life, here’s the banana bread recipe. But I make no guarantees on how it turns out! Ovens, elevations and ingredients vary, just like life, but, in the end, our effort and our choices are the things matter, not our cooking skills.

Keep pressing on. And listen to your heart.