Things to be learned from making bread

This year, for some of our gifts to friends, we made loaves of bread. We ended up making about 60 loaves over the course of December. (Partially because it was hard to make all that bread and not save some here and there for us to eat.) When we embarked on this project I knew it would be a lot of work, and it was. But what I didn't expect where the things that I learned from making bread.
1. It really helped me with the spirit of giving. For years I have really struggled with what to give our friends for Christmas. They always come up with such cute things that are something that they have a talent for, or something that I can tell took a lot of thought. We have tried many things, but I just always ended up feeling like they were kind of lame. This year I really felt like I was giving a piece of myself. For a couple of years I have been perfecting my bread recipe, and techniques. But I usually only make it for our family. I felt like I could use a talent to share with other people.
2. Making bread is much like shaping a life. Over and over through out the process I just felt like I was watching such a progression. Particullarly in the kneading process. When you start to knead the dough it is sticky and hard to touch, but as you add flour and push and pull on the dough it really becomes something beautiful. Then you can actually see how this might become bread. My thought were often draw to life, and how sometimes we don't see how experiences, and challenges can possibly help us, but as we push and pull to rise above it, we become something better. Something that looks more like what we would like to become someday.
3. We must pass through the fire to truly become who we are. You can do all you want to dough, but if you don't bake it, it will always be dough. Each time as I would take some loaves out of the oven, and put new ones in, I was struck by how nothing is easy. And just as the dough must face the heat to become bread. We must pass through the refiners fire to become who we want to become.
4. I love my husband. Yes, I knew that before. But working along side him for hour after hour as we mixed and kneaded dough reminded me of how much I love him. And how we are in this all together. Sometimes we get so caught up in life, and kids that we forget that in the end it is about the two of us and what we are together. He is so wonderful to me and I couldn't have done this without him.
5. I developed a much greater meaning of when Christ says that he is the "bread of life". I have a much better understanding of what the really means. He was pushed and pulled and went through the ultimate fire, to be our bread of life. And as we partake of that wonderful gift we will be filled, but also long to have him more in our life. One of the comments I heard the most was, we ate it so fast, I wish we'd had more. I hope that I can feel that more about the Savior and his love for me. Because we always can have more, but it is up to us to ask Him.
So I know this is a little late, but this is my Christmas message. Yes the holiday itself was wonderful, and I will get to that at a later date. But the most wonderful part of Christmas for me was getting to know my Savior better through making bread.