Father Tim...and Cinnamon Rolls

In spite of myself, I've been drawn into Jan Karon's Mitford: a small town that holds Percy's Grill, the museum...and Father Tim, a chubby Episcopalian priest who wife Cynthia is a children's book author. (Their adopted son Dooley is a pistol who loves KitKats, the word "ain't," and Barnabas, the only dog in the universe who behaves when quoted Scripture.)
    Karon's Mitford novels are as comfy as sliding on your worn slippers and relaxing in front of the fire. There's more to it, though, a depth that looks at grief...loneliness...loss...discouragement. And a strong acknowledgment that the God who brings good things into our lives also also allows bad ones, because they strengthen us, and lead us to maturity.
    An interview with Karon is here. She made her name in advertising, but gave it up to move back to North Carolina and write a novel.   She had no assurance that she was doing the right thing, or that her book would publish -- but she was, and it did.
     To this day, Karon's books have never been in the New York Times Book Review, or given a lot of press (ok, maybe Publisher's Weekly)...yet they've sold more than 20 million copies.
     If you've ever read any of Miss Read's 'cozies,' and loved them, you'll enjoy these books, too. Or maybe you just need a peaceful vacation away from it all. Start with At Home In Mitford, so you can meet Father Tim at the beginning, and get to know his friends and family gradually.

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    I stumbled onto an easy way to make your cinnamon rolls more tender and flaky. It's not the dough -- it's the filling! Before you spread the cinnamon/sugar/nuts/whatever onto the dough, butter the dough...then 'butter' it a second time, with cream cheese spread. (My sister-in-law puts this in the dough, and I've heard of it used as frosting...but never this way.) Go ahead, dump on the dry ingredients, roll, slice and bake.
      Philly's new Cooking Creme is perfect for this. (Husband, whose passion for cinnamon rolls is surmounted only by chocolate chip cookies and brownies, noticed the difference right away.) Please note -- I did get a coupon for a free package. But I bought more...and quite honestly, I'd say the same thing, even if I hadn't. This is good stuff.
     If you don't have a good cinnamon roll recipe, try this one -- but add a few teaspoons of cinnamon directly to the dough, and don't forget to spread cream cheese at the same time you put on the butter. I'm a big fan of nuts, too. Yum.

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I don't think of writing as a spiritual discipline, though I am writing about things of the spirit. I work in a disciplined way because that's the way I was trained to write. While I found advertising to be somewhat brutal and unfeeling, all things considered, it has taught me many wise and useful ways to work. The take-out of this is that God never wastes anything. Nothing. The years I spent pouring my heart into work that would be thrown away, recycled, or ignored were years He was teaching me how to put my shoulder to the wheel and get the job done, no matter what.
                                                                         --Jan Karon