Godly coffee cake

I have a few feminist impulses. Most American women do, I suspect. One of my most ugly thoughts arises over men and women serving God in a traditional Baptist environment. Somehow, I always hear teachings about having time alone with God with a jaded ear. I envision a man, rising to spend time with his Lord, while the woman takes care of the household and keeps him from being disturbed. Okay, I know this is a jaded view, but it is necessary background.

This morning I was up before the kids (not hard, since it's summer vacation), and I'm researching some things in the Bible and writing up some teaching on the computer. As I'm clicking happily along, one of my daughters approaches me and asks, "Mom, what about the coffee cake?" I remember that I had told the girls I would make coffee cake, probably before they were up so it would be awaiting their darling sleepy heads as soon as they roll out of bed. However, I had forgotten, and I am currently swept up in Bible study...which is IMPORTANT. In fact, it's GODLY. Little snots, they're interrupting GOD.

This is when my feminist demons begin plaguing me. If I were a man, studying the Bible would be more important than making coffee cake. And because I know that this voice is not my Father, I begin to question what is running through my mind. (Even as I write this blog, I have had to stop to listen to a description of a rat that my daughter wants as a pet and a long discourse on how my other daughter is starving and cannot possibly have juice on such an empty stomach. The coffee cake is baking...)

There is a knob in my brain that I can use to tune out those complaining, accusing voices, and seek the quiet voice of my Good Shepherd. This is what I think He says: making coffee cake is important. Not the cake so much as the ability to put other people before myself. It's great that I am studying the Bible, but it is even better that I can make my daughters a priority. He designed my family intentionally to grate away at my selfishness. If I allow normal life to chip away at my character, then my Bible study will truly be profitable. If I shut down people in order to pursue the "spiritual," then I am well on my way to Pharisee Land.