Lessons Learned From Baking Biscuits

I bought a bag of frozen biscuits the other day--Pillsbury "Grands" to be exact.  

The impetus for this purchase of frozen biscuits came after I had discovered that Whataburger is packaging and selling the Honey Butter sauce it puts on biscuits and chicken sandwiches.  

Listen, a bottle of that honey butter stuff leapt into my cart as I rolled by the display. I swear it.   Also, don't hate on me.  I can't make biscuits from scratch. 

One of the directions on making the biscuits in the oven was to ensure that they were touching when you put them on the baking sheet.  The directions indicated this was a sure-fire way to make sure they rose to heights of fluffy goodness. 

I got to thinking about why the biscuits rose better when they were touching one another, which led me to do some research online.  

I didn't find any solid scientific explanation--just some blather about how the dough "climbs" better when the biscuits are next to each other. But virtually every website I consulted declared that having the biscuits touch was an inviolate part of the process. 

In case you were wondering... they turned out amazing. And the honey butter---dadgummit it was good. 

It's been a tough year for proximity, and we've felt it for sure. Most of us haven't been able to be close to each other in the ways that we used to.  It's taken a toll on our ability to rise.  

As things have loosened up a bit, and the COVID numbers in my community have started to fall, I've had the opportunity to hang out with more people (safely, of course) than I've been able to all year.  It's been life-giving.  

Even my introverted friends are telling me that they are looking forward to attending more in-person gatherings and events.  For me, I can't wait until I can attend my first in-person concert again.  

And it sure feels good to be planning for in-person, indoor worship at my church, which we hope to see very soon.  There's hope on the horizon, even as we continue to have to use caution, and do our best to take care of one another.  

I hope that when we return to some sense of "normalcy" we won't forget the lessons that we've learned during this difficult year.  Including this one: 

We have more in common than we don't, and one of the many things we have in common is that we are able to rise higher when we are together.  

In a world where we have been forced to be apart from others, we have also begun to see one another in two-dimensional kinds of ways.  

Standing face-to-face with someone tends to break down the kinds of barriers that we erect when we are only interacting with each other virtually.  It's harder to create a caricature of someone when they are in front of you.  

Maybe as the world begins to open up again we'll start to realize the theological implications of baking biscuits.  We need to be close to one another in order to truly grow. 

Maybe we'll recall the words that God utters in the Genesis account, "It is not good [for humans] to be isolated." 

Maybe we won't take for granted the simple act of being "in touch" with our friends, relatives, and loved ones--even the ones that we struggle to get along with.  

Maybe we'll learn to set aside our differences and rise together.