Solace in the Kitchen

The kitchen.
It's where Mom is.
It's where the family gathers.
 It's where cookies are baked and snacks are shared.

It's where soup steams and chili simmers and cheese melts on bread and the scent of herbs snipped into the chicken broth fills the warm air.

It's where the eggs and milk are brought each day,

and its where you bring your stubs and splinters and hurt feelings--because Mom is usually there.

It's where the amaryllis sits in the middle of the welcoming table,

and it's where all the family is welcome--and others are welcome, too.

  There have been many days when cooking and baking was more of a chore than a joy and comfort for me. There was so  much to do, and all I could think of was how to get one meal after another on the table while also caring for babies and educating young children and including them in my work.

But as my children grow older (and I do, too!) I realize what a comfort a hot meal is, and how much it means to have the table set and ready with supper on time, 

when Dad and the children come home from work.

Sometimes we take a hot meal on the table for granted.

We chafe at "having to" make another meal after already making two earlier in the day (which some folks deal with by cutting down to just two  meals, but that is another subject altogether.) 

We chafe at the dishes we have to wash and the messy counters we have to clean.

 But there is a special comfort one can take in making such meals in the kitchen.

 The very act of chopping onions and pepper and celery, or mixing a pleasant, colorful array of fruit in a bowl, can bring solace to a heart that hurts. 

Sometimes healing can be found in the mere giving of oneself to prepare a meal for the family or others.

And it's especially so when done in the name of Jesus and for His sake.

It's the simplicity of the activity that runs counter to the complexities of life's problems.

Many times we simply don't know how to deal with the complexities of life's problems or how to resolve interrelational issues.

But we can always give a cup of cold water (or hot coffee). We can always pull out an onion and pepper and potatoes, the flour and sugar and molasses, 

and make a meal for our loved ones.

We can even salvage apples that were frozen out in the van, and turn them into a spicy apple crisp.

In a recent devotional by John Piper, he brings out how Jesus said, "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:19–21)

                                                    "Understand what?" Piper asks. "The leftovers.

The leftovers were for the servers. In fact, the first time there were twelve servers and twelve basketfuls left over (Mark 6:43) — one whole basket for each server. The second time there were seven basketfuls left over — seven, the number of abundant completeness."

They did not understand the meaning of the leftovers, namely, that Jesus will take care of them when they take care of others. 

What didn’t they understand? That Jesus would take care of them. You can’t out-give Jesus. When you spend your life for others, your needs will be met. 'My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus'(Philippians 4:19)."

We discovered this once again when we heard about a family in need who had just moved at last into a little apartment but had next to nothing to begin life here. The dad is a vet and the mom has disabilites, and some of the children have severe food allergies.

I  mixed meatballs and Carrie formed them,

and we baked potatoes and made a special green bean casserole and took a few other things.

On our way home, I was so weak with hunger that I stopped into a grocery store to buy something to hold myself together--and I found some unbelievable markdowns that filled half my cart.

Once again, when we shared love from our kitchen, God filled our grocery cart with blessings!

Our kitchen can be a place where the hungry find bread, the thirsty find water, the cold find warmth, the hurting find comfort, the weary find rest, and the empty find God's love.