“I will lift up mine eyes unto the Mills, from whence cometh my Flour!”

And when there is lack of flour, what do we do then?

When ingredients, as ingredients do, run out, to where do we turn?

Or do we turn inwards and despair?

Today’s thoughts are taken from the first Epistle of Mr Bunn the Baker to Delia Smith.

Delia, when she was delayed, and en route by rail to a location amd having missed her train, tells that she prayed “God, you know what to do. If it is your will then I will arrive on time.” And she reports that she arrived on time.

And so it is with ingredient failure.

We do not always set out to bake with our minds in good order. We do not always check our store cupboard. Delia Smith did not check her store cupboard of time before missing her train. And her deity delivered, or so she says.

But is it safe to rely on godly arrival of ingredients?

So many folk misinterpret “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help!” as a statement that the help will come from the hills. Not so. It’s a cry of pain. It is despair. It means that I am looking at the hills in despair, am feeling alone and forsaken, and am asking from where my help will come.

It does not mean that a deity will provide rail transport conveniently arranged in order to get me to my destination on time.

It is the same with Mills and Flour. The Flour mill will not make a miraculous delivery of flour just because we want it. The Mills do not work this way, neither does the promise to The Chocolatey Mistress of a newly baked, fresh, gloriously scented Cake.

“From whence?”

From getting on your bike, for we must be kind to the environment, and going to the shops!

Thus the unprepared are prepared, and Cake is baked.

“In the name of the Cake, the Baking and the Mistress. Amen.”