by Archdeacon Claire Phelps
Dear Family of St John’s
Do you remember the children’s nursery rhyme, “What are little boys made of?”
I came across this version online that references the source as The Baby’s Opera by Walter Crane (circa 1877):
What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails and puppy-dog’s tails,
And that are little boys made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all that’s nice,
And that are little girls made of.
What are young men made of?
What are young men made of?
Sighs and leers, and crocodile tears,
And that are young men made of.
What are young women made of?
What are young women made of?
Ribbons and laces, and sweet pretty faces,
And that are young women made of.
I hadn’t heard those last two verses before! Now, you may be wondering if this article is a comparison of boys and girls… rest assured, it’s not.
But, I’ve recently taken a few days leave and ‘sugar and spice and all that’s nice’ played a big role in my time off. Once a phrase is stuck in my head, I have to let it out somehow!
Generally, I take leave so that we can go away somewhere. But, this time I took time off to NOT go anywhere. I stayed at home. It was bliss… I read two books, I napped. I sorted out a few piles of clutter, tossed out some clothes I no longer wear. I napped again. And, I baked.
I think you will know by now that I enjoy baking and cooking. I love feeding people, I have been told it’s my love-language. I collect recipe books – the older the better. I have my grandmother’s handwritten notebook with all her recipes in. It’s been splattered with the batter and ingredients of thousands of culinary creations. And, I treasure it. I love the recipe books that have been compiled by churches and schools – you know you’re likely to have the ingredients and someone has made this recipe many times. So, it will work.
However, I don’t often have the time to bake those goodies that take time. I can whip together a batch of scones within 15 minutes – assuming my oven heats up quick enough! From the first crack of an egg to taking it out of the oven, my chocolate cake will take about 45minutes. I don’t need recipes for these items, I can bake them when I’m half-asleep.
But, I love having the time to make a dough that needs time to rest, to rise. To check the recipe, think about if I’d like to add a little ‘something extra’ to give it some zing! And so, I baked some of those recipes this week.
I made Chelsea Buns that needed time for the dough to rise, then be rolled out, filled with that sugary-cinnamony-spicey mixture. And, then left to rest a little longer. It needed a separate sugar glaze made. And, then an added dollop of cream cheese icing for good measure.
I made the lemoniest lemon loaf – I confess I amped up the lemon quantities quite a bit. It needed a sugar/lemon syrup, time to cool, a lemon glaze… I made my favourite chewy oatmeal and raisin cookies, spiced with just the right amount of cinnamon… I baked my mom’s recipe for wholewheat bread (tweaked it with some extra additions, of course) to serve alongside a chicken soup that was so chunky you almost needed a fork to eat it!
And I fed the people I love. Nothing lasted until the next day – the Chelsea buns were gone within a couple of hours!
So, apart from possibly making your mouth water, what is the purpose of my ramblings?
Well, as I kneaded dough, waited for it to rise, and resisted the temptation to rush the process, I was reminded that some of the best things in life can’t be hurried. Bread dough rises in its own time. A rich soup develops flavour as it simmers slowly. A lemon loaf must cool before the glaze can be added. There are no shortcuts if you want the best result.
We live in a world that celebrates busyness. We often wear our packed schedules as badges of honour. We rush from one commitment to another, feeling guilty if we aren’t constantly producing, achieving, or ticking something off a list. Yet God never designed us to live at that pace indefinitely.
Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is stay at home. To sit in a comfortable chair with a book. To take a nap. To enjoy a conversation. To bake something that takes three times longer than it really needs to. To spend unhurried time with the people we love. In a culture obsessed with productivity, rest can feel strangely unproductive. Yet rest is one of God’s gifts to us.
The Psalmist reminds us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Stillness isn’t wasted time. It’s in the quiet spaces that we remember who God is and who we are. It’s often in those moments when we stop striving that God gently restores our souls, clarifies our thinking, and renews our strength.
Just as dough needs time to rest and rise before it becomes bread, so we need moments of deep rest if we are to grow into the people God is calling us to be. Our spiritual lives aren’t formed only in the busy moments of service and activity. They’re also shaped in the hidden, ordinary moments when we slow down enough to listen, pray, reflect, and simply be present.
So perhaps my few days of leave were about more than Chelsea buns, lemon loaf, and homemade bread. They were a reminder that God isn’t only present in the doing, but also in the resting. Sometimes “sugar and spice and all that’s nice” may be God’s gentle invitation to stop rushing, savour His blessings, and allow our souls a little time to rise.
With love,
Your friend and rector
Claire
P.S. I have a few days off again this coming week… what should I bake next?