And They Still Baked Bread

"Wash on Monday
  Iron  on Tuesday
  Mend on Wednesday
  Market on Thursday
  Clean on Friday
  Bake on Saturday
  Rest on Sunday."

I don't know about you, but the 1800's pioneer era has always been a fascination for me. As a little girl I can clearly remember drinking in anything written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman on Saturday night after my bath, eating a bowl of ice cream while my mom braided my wet hair so that it was wavy in the morning. Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant living in the 1800's from the American Girls book and doll collection was my favorite American Girl.

You get the picture.


As little girl, I'm sure the fascination came from all the horses, indians, bonnets and the fact that the women always wore dresses, but as an adult woman this fascination has grown into something so much more. 

This girlhood fascination has turned into a mature appreciation. When I consider all of the "first world hardships" that I may have to deal with, I often find myself using the women of that era as as a means to gain perspective and keep a thankful heart in check. If any of you know me even just a little bit, you know that "gratitude and perspective" is something that I say a lot and strive to live out as often as I say it.

Over a year ago I was washing a huge pile of dishes at the sink. The residence that we currently live in does not have a dishwasher, so a new reality has been disciplining myself to keep the dirty dish pile small or nonexistent. In this particular scenario, life had gotten away on me and dishes became last priority. Last priority until they began to stink, and there was no more room for any more dirty dishes. Can you relate?

One of my favorite things to do when I wash dishes is to call friends and family. I called my mom during this dish washing session, seeking some comfort and wise advice during a very painful situation. I can't remember exactly what the situation was, but I do remember verbally processing and trying so very hard to gain gratitude and perspective. At one point in the conversation I found myself once again turning to the strong and beautiful Pioneer woman, listing off all of the common hardships that they went through and than I said:

"And they still baked bread!"

These days few of us think much about bread. (unless you are on a low or no carb eating plan, of which you are no doubt dreaming of bagels.) And even fewer of us look at it as being a priority to make when we can go to the grocery store and pick from what seems like hundreds of different types of bread.
But back then, bread was made every week, no matter what. Nearly everything was made by hand, and often the nearest town/store was a day's drive or more away. There was no frozen pizza to stick in an electric oven, or cereal poured in a bowl with milk that you didn't have dispense from your own cow. The chickens needed to be fed, water was often fetched from a river and carried back to the cabin just so that you could cook, wash clothes, or just take a bath.

And speaking of baths....

Did you know that a whole family shared the bath water? And that the mother usually went last? Oye.

Now back to the bread.

Bread was a staple food during that time. It was usually eaten at every meal, the ingredients were cheap and fed the whole family. The carbs were needed to sustain bodies that burned calories from hours and hours of hard work that were needed just to survive.

The hardships that these women were endured were unlike we could ever imagine.

Their husbands, children and loved ones died from what are now preventable or extinct diseases.
There were often so many children to raise because there wasn't helpful birth control, and so many of those women died in child birth.
There were droughts that killed crops, which forced families to leave everything that they knew to find a place where they could merely survive.
Fires burned down homes and farms.
Death was more inevitable due to not being close enough to get help.

But they still got out of bed.
They still got dressed.
They still made 3 meals from scratch.

And yes. They still baked bread.

How does this relate you, to me?

I feel very strongly that while it's important to not neglect our emotions and how we feel about things,  there are times where we need to remember the importance of just doing the hard stuff because it needs to be done. Because if we allow how we feel to dictate what gets done, few things will ever get done well.

I realize that we can't begin to compare ourselves to the women of old; that we don't live in an era where things are naturally so hard, but those things have been replaced with things that are are hard in a different way. Regardless, the strength of woman hasn't changed, though it definitely looks different than it first did.

Life is hard. Even those people who always say "Oh, life is just SO great! How about you?" Yeah, it's hard for them too, they just don't see it, feel it or want to admit it.

Jesus says:

"I have said the things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."- John 16:33

Scripture is also full of examples of extreme hardship, but it is in the extreme that we find a comforting balance of gratitude and "it could always be so much worse." And through it all, we are never alone in the hard providence seasons of this world. He is refining, molding and breaking us into the woman of Christ He desires us to be, even if we don't bake the bread.