Scone City Beauty

I'm enjoying a freshly baked whole grain cranberry scone. It is wonderful...made right here by the baker's hands at Earthly Kneads. Paired with a cup of aroma filled French Roast made this a winning combination. Along with it's organic breads (I purchased a loaf of Tuscan right out of the oven to enjoy at home) Earthly Kneads offers a host of local goods: handmade pottery, art, sculpture, honey, jams, and fair trade coffee. This shop is full of life giving aromas, flavors, creativity, and beauty.

As I sit here finishing the last few bits of my scone I can't help but gaze out the three large windows that front this shop and make a mural out of downtown Muskegon. The downtown is littered with empty buildings, empty lots, and empty streets. Set against the backdrop of a thick grey sky the city projects little of the kind of vibrancy that emerges from a thriving city. Yet this is a perfect location...a perfect place to communicate that beauty can be found anywhere...that life isn't something that just happens, but is created, cultivated, and in bread-maker's lingo: "kneaded".

The Creator of Life calls us to be the kind of people that move in tandem with him, cultivating hope in places that, on the surface, appear to be lifeless. From the desolate places of a person's soul to the empty streets of a struggling city, we are asked to invest ourselves in the world with with the kind of wonder and possibility that fills the dreams of God.