The Sudden Immensity of the Little Muffin
Delighted to share that on Sept 1, 2022, The Sudden Immensity of the Little Muffin was awarded Honorable Mention in the Inspirational/Spiritual category of the 91st Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition.
This is one of my favorite pieces, and holds a special place in my writer’s heart. I am so pleased that it’s received recognition from such a prestigious and historic contest that celebrates writing excellence on a global scale.
One day a batch of muffins was removed from the oven and laid out to cool. Once they cooled, they were placed on a plate and left to themselves.
The muffins considered each other and compared their differences, deciding who was perfect and who was not. They talked amongst themselves in their silent muffin language, about where the muffins went who never returned.
The largest muffins were taken first, so they decided the biggest must have been taken to a wonderful place as their reward. Because of this, the remaining muffins tried very hard to make themselves look bigger so they would be chosen next.
The smallest and flattest muffin was left to himself. He could only listen to the other muffins because whenever he tried to speak, no one listened to him. The others sneered at him - how could he have anything interesting to say when he was so small, flat, and unimportant?
He was very much alone. Secretly, he wondered if the other muffins were wrong since they never questioned themselves. Since no one would pay attention to him, he moved a little apart from the group and occupied himself by looking at the strange world around him.
He didn't understand what he was looking at or what the big moving thing was that took the other muffins away. He wanted to understand, but he had no one to ask. He only had himself. So he watched, day and night while the other muffins jabbered about their importance and formed ideas of a bigger original muffin they came from, who was invisible and watched over them. The other muffins liked this idea very much and spent a lot of time discussing it.
The next morning, while the other muffins were sleeping after a protracted debate over which laws, rewards, and punishments the Mighty Muffin had for muffins, the little muffin noticed the Big Being began to make a lot of noise. It carried things from closed-in places and placed them on a flat surface. It took other things from a cold place, divided all of the things up, and then combined them together in one place. He could hear the things from both the cold place and the closed-in places talking excitedly amongst themselves. Although he didn't understand what they were saying, he felt their excitement. Something big was happening! He wanted to share this with the other muffins, but they told him to be quiet, they needed their rest to be chosen next.
Then, an amazing thing - the Big Being put something on the flat surface the little muffin remembered from when he woke up. It was flat and had deep, round holes in it. He watched, fascinated as the Big Being poured the mixture into the little round holes. He heard the voices of the others more clearly as the Big Being carried the flat thing with the filled holes to the heat box. They were so excited and happy!
The little muffin felt sorely out of his depth, but he persisted in watching and listening. Nothing happened for a long time until the Big Being took the flat thing out of the heat box.
His little muffin mind reeled. It was not possible! Those wet, flat things had turned into...him! This meant he was not only a muffin...he was all of those other things too. He had seen them, individually at first and then combined together. He saw them divided up into the flat thing with holes, in the same place where he woke up.
Filled with joy, he watched as the Big Being took the new muffins out and placed them on a new plate. They were silent, perhaps they were sleeping. Impatient, he waited for them to wake up so he could ask them questions. Who were they before they became like him? Why couldn't he remember anything from before being a muffin? What did they remember? There was so much to learn!
While he waited in a fever of excitement, the Big Being came and lifted the plate he and the remaining muffins lived on. Because he had moved himself to the edge, he fell off and got left behind. Upside down, he watched as the Big Being opened a huge shiny container and let the muffins slide off their home down into its depths, their screams of terror silenced as it closed up behind them. Then the Big Being brought the plate with the new muffins over to where the little muffin remained and set it down beside him.
One by one, they woke up. He wiggled up to the plate. Who are you? he whispered. They stared at him as if he were dense. Maybe it was because he was upside down. He tried to turn over but didn't have the strength. He asked again. One of the bigger muffins replied: We are muffins, just like you...except you are a stupid muffin, you don't even know how to sit upright. And then, they laughed.
Sadly, the little muffin realised they had forgotten who they had been before they were put into the heat box - even when he told them what he had seen. They told him to stop making up stories. In horror, he listened as they followed the same path as the muffins who came before them, admiring themselves and each other, allocating power to unknown entities...all of this they could do, but they could not see what they were within! When he could not endure their mockery anymore, he worked his way into a dark corner and spent his time alone, trying to understand the things he had learned.
Days went by and the little muffin became very old, he felt that he would cease to be a muffin very soon, but he was not afraid. He knew he didn't understand all there was to know, for he was only a little muffin, but he had done his best to understand difficult things.
He closed his eyes to sleep his final sleep. As he slipped away from the old and ruined muffin form he had lived in for those long and lonely days, he felt incredibly light, lighter than anything he could imagine. He didn't know what he was supposed to be without his muffin form. He felt vulnerable and disoriented but he mustered the courage to let go. Soon he felt himself speeding backwards, remembering the parts he had been before he was a muffin. Then he became what those parts were made of. Further and further back he travelled - faster and faster - until he approached a place of beautiful light. As he merged with the light, he realised he had never only been just a little muffin. He was immense. He was everything. His muffin time was just a part of it.
And now, he was home. Ready to begin again.