Muffins – A Meeting – A Blanket – Coffee – and Lunch

The first half of my day was spent in a planning retreat/meeting for a community organization that I have been involved in for many years. I am interested in education for women and equity issues and have been involved with the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in every city I have lived in since graduating from Seminary. My involvement gives me a special connection with other like minded women.

Well a few days ago, I had made a huge batch of Morning Glory Muffins to fulfill the muffins that a parishioner had bought at the annual Potato Bake and Auction fund raiser. I made a triple batch and have been sending muffins to school with my husband and to work with my husband and I took the bag of leftovers to meeting, thinking they’d go good with coffee. When I got to the meeting all to drink was water and iced tea. Passed the muffins around and they got eaten. One person commented that they looked healthy but I felt that I almost had to convince folks that they weren’t as healthy as they looked.

Why don’t people want to eat healthy muffins? Muffins are notorious for being high in fat and these had their fair share of oil in them, but what threw people were the carrots. These Morning Glory Muffins need a little cream cheese glaze or frosting and they would be better than carrot cake. I get a thrill out of sharing muffins with people, but I also want to feed people with good and nutritious food too. I think my Morning Glory Muffins are a good balance of nutrition and decadence. Yes, they have too much sugar, but they are full of fruit and veggies and I used part whole wheat white flour.

The planning meeting was good. Over the years I have noticed a parallel between evangelism discussions in mainline congregations and community organizations. Both groups lament that they can’t get younger members. Both groups lament that membership is dropping off and that if it doesn’t recover they will have to close. Both groups struggle with similar financial issues that relate back to organizational maintenance and mission. I was amazed to hear the phrase; “each one bring one.” I thought to myself, ‘I’ve heard that before,’ ‘easier said than done,’ and ‘gee that sounds like evangelism, wonder what model?’ Most regular folks aren’t good at spreading the word – regardless of what that word is – the mission of a community organization or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Or is it that that regular folks do spread the word but the people being spread to aren’t open or interested? Not much we can do if the human heart isn’t receptive to a message.

The room we were meeting in was cold and if you can believe the wisdom of the public library, the temperature is controlled from the downtown administrative offices. I wasn’t the only person who went out to my car for a blanket. My aunt will love the story of how I actually got to use the circa 1940 car blanket (cars in the 1940s had terrible heaters). The blanket was a wonderful connection to my aunt and the other women that are important in my life – especially appropriate since my meeting was for a woman’s education organization.

And again the nurturing power of coffee was a part of my morning because when we took our break because it was so cold, one of the women went to buy coffee for those wanted it. It was wonderful to have coffee in such a setting and the warmth of the coffee was reflected in the kindness of the person who went to get it for us. It made my day.

Lunch was from one of my favorite places to have a catered lunch, the Classic Cookie Cafe. We all had so much fun that we took the ribbons from our boxes and wore them in various ways, some as head bands, some as bows in their hair, some as neckties. The ribbons of our lives bind us together.

So home I went after the planning retreat – to continue cleaning and reflect on connection.