Nursery Rhymes for Adult Spiritual Enrichment

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns

Hot cross buns

One a penny two a penny
Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters
Give them to your sons
One a penny two a penny
Hot cross buns

What's a hot cross bun? It's a spiced sweet bun made with currants, a dried fruit of the small, sweet, seedless grape, and marked with a cross on top. Traditionally, hot cross buns were eaten on Good Friday to commemorate the crucifixion of Christ. "One a penny two a penny" signifies the selling of the hot cross buns in the marketplace as vendors would shout that to attract customers. To some, daughters or females in general represent the moistness of fruitful qualities. What happens when you have no "daughters?" Feed the hot and dried, but sweet and spicy "buns" to your sons. This is sure to ignite some hot tempers. We know Christ's message represents the moist fruit of love, peace, faith, and perseverance, so to sell dried fruit with a tempting spice would be to crucify Christ publicly.

What would your life be like if your inner state was made like a hot cross bun? Whether male or female the ingredients would include a hot temperament with just enough sweet and spicy taste to keep you interesting. Both male and female would be full of dried fruit to diminish the functions of kindness, gentleness, goodness, and perseverance. The females would be available at the discretion of third party entities in the marketplace, and the males would be full of aggressive vigilance over the "hot cross buns." In essence, a female would have hints of a cruel demeanor, harshness, evilness, and possess the ability to end relationships on a whim, but with a sweet and spicy flavor. The males would show more cruelty, harshness, evilness, and fatal interactions in their domination over the "hot cross buns." The moist fruit of goodwill, meekness, joy, and patience would be dried into bad intent, aggression, pessimism, and impatience while maintaining a sweet and spicy flavor. The females would be disgusted at your refusal to "buy" their "hot cross bun," and the males would assert their anger to further oust you from the marketplace for your refusal to have one. Additional ingredients of the "hot cross bun" of your inner life would be the dried fruit of peace, love, faith, and self-control which would result in conflict, hatred, despair, and out of control behaviors. In essence, the females would experience hostile encounters from those overtaken by the temptation of the sweet spice, and the males would become violently engaged in their despair of those taking the "hot cross buns" without approval.

Imagine making an effort to remain open to patience, self-control and perseverance relating to overcoming calloused indulgence in sweet temptations. However, certain of those around you keep inserting reasons for you to hurry up and partake before the hot sweet spice becomes cold. They are making dried fruit of your inner life. The only thing close to being fruitful in the offering of their temptations is the carnal pleasure within the sweet and spicy "buns." They are making hot cross buns. As the guys become anxious in their anticipation of getting the craving of their pleasures fulfilled, the call is heard "one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns." Likewise, the women become impatient with the guys who are looking for fruitful comforts and insist that the guys pursue the sweet and spice temptations. Again, the call is heard, one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns. The pleasures and comforts we have of one another disappear in a calloused world made of sweet spice and dried fruit.

In the making of hot cross buns there is the ingredient of dried fruit made from the fruit of peace, meekness, and gentleness. By drying that fruit there they create conflict in the act of pursuing self-gratification, aggression in the taking of temptations, and harshness while partaking of the pleasures. But the tumult is tempered by the sweet spice of the participants. Even then, the regulatory qualities that enable inward tranquility are not available and serenity does not exist with the inner life. The guys are hot-tempered and always aware of the possibility of physical violence from third parties and the unpredictability of the female's response to assertive behaviors seeking carnal gratification. The females have to use harsh aggression within their sweet and spicy flavor when indulgence has reached limitations. When the call sounds, "hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns," there is alarm, anticipation, readiness, and vigilance in the awareness of the taking of the hot cross bun. In that world of dried fruit and sweet spice, the safety and security within spiritual fruitfulness is sacrificed.

In social relationships, we are drawn to sweetness and a little spice to add to the interpersonal intrigue, but dried fruit of hatred, ill-intent, and cruel responses we can do without. But, when there is a mix of the sweet spice with the dried fruit our social experiences become temptations urging us to indulge intrusively into the pleasures of carnal desires. That transpires without a fully recognized consent. The fruit of love, goodwill, and kindness are dried and do not play a role in the fulfillment of sensual pleasures as the call is heard, "hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns." The females have that underlying attitude of hating the affections of their pursuers with hints of cruel promises, but mixed with a sweet flavor of spice that suggest everything will be O.K. The males also have that inner hatred and cruel perspective towards the aloofness of the women's affection, but during the indulgence convey an assurance through the sweetness of the spice. A desirable place of belonging through loving kindness is lost to the "hot cross buns" made of sweet spice and dried fruit.

Hot cross buns are made by things that can be given or created by human hands. Carnal desires can be given to us through components of the flesh, and money can come from various external sources. Even so, human hands cannot create the spiritual fruit of our inner life, and in that fruitfulness we seek things of the universal deity, not things that destroy the good fruit of the soul. In that light, the reason external entities intend to dry the inner fruit is to redirect the focus on external temptations. Those temptations are the "hot cross buns" made with dried fruit and sweet spice, which are male, female, and people of all sorts. Those "hot cross buns" desolate the inner fruitfulness that the internal deity desires to work within us. The indulgence of those temptations consisting of dried fruit will eventually cause inner turmoil, a loss for the value of life, irreverence for the divinity of the soul, and fill us with negative energy; that is the echo heard in the call, "hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns." Wholesome sensual intimacy, physical pleasures, and fleshly comfort come from the infinite deity. With the deity's gift of sensual gratification comes spiritual fruitfulness, inner peace, a regard for the life of others, reverence for the infinite deity, and positive energy.

In the making of hot cross buns, the moist fruit are dried by putting you into an environment akin to a hot oven where your inner fruit is struck at continually as they pursue your pleasant demeanor like fire on fuel oil. Their intent is to use sweetness and spiciness to tempt others according to their devious purpose. They want you to lose faith in love, discard goodness in affections, and discourage joy in the fulfilling of pleasure while simultaneously maintaining the sweet flavor of a spicy treat. Their "hot cross buns" incite aggression, adventurous risks, and self-confident motivation in the pursuit of sweet and spicy temptations. The ones on fire for sensual pleasure give heed to the call, "hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns." That is the dry fruit within a hot cross bun. The optimism of sensual intimacy that comes by faith, joy, and goodness in one another's fruitful sensuality would be lost in a calloused world of dried fruit hidden in a savory taste of sweet spice.