What is the one room in the house that I spend the most time in? The kitchen. I like to think of my kitchen as the living Book of Genesis. Any of you that have bought and sold a house, know that In the beginning there was the kitchen, formless and empty...and before we decide to buy a house, we often envision whether or not that kitchen can fulfill our needs and the demands of raising a family. The kitchen, after all, is a place of creation, of all kinds of things, visible and invisible. Our kitchens are filled with the tools of creation.. pots and pans, ovens, cupboards filled with ingredients, recipe books, dishes, little vases of dandelions sit by placemats, and once in awhile there are cookies in the cookie jar. In our house, the refrigerator is not just a place to chill and freeze foods, the outside holds my children's creations of artwork, notes that are reminders to do something, or be somewhere, and calendars where important dates are kept and made. I also have a desk in my kitchen, and my laptop often rests there, and in between boiling something, and waiting for something in the oven to bake, I will go over and write another paragraph for a book.
When you stop and think about it, our kitchens are the room in our house that are our "home temples", where the Holy Spirit hovers...inspiring, creating, feeding, and nourishing our minds and hearts. Kitchens have their own altar, maybe an island or a table where we share meals and conversations, breaking and sharing the "bread" of the day's events. Just as a priest washes and prepares his hands, praying for cleansing of everything that isn't of God, and preparing for a miracle to come among us, we wash our hands before we sit down and share the meal, of course not wanting to share our germs, but also washing away what went before this moment, so that we can be present to one another in this moment. I, too, pray for the miracle that there be more food in our tummies than on the floor! Grace has bestowed on us, and our food and ourselves blessed, everyone takes their "pew-seat" at the table of plenty, and we find ourselves in communion with one another, joined in heart and mind over a shared meal. Sometimes the meal before us is one that was prepared in another kitchen, by someone else's hands, and our web of life is expanded, even by way of a drive thru or take-out. Our hearts and minds receive and experience "communion" because we all sit down around one meal and share one life. And with three young children, we also share giggles, spills, the occasional burp, our highs and lows for the day, and everything in between. It is never dull around our table, and in many ways, it is exactly what we do on Sunday when we come before the altar and hold out our hands to receive the Bread of Life and hold the Cup of Salvation. Through our human faults, our quirks, our shortcomings, our love for each other, and our gifts, life and salvation are worked out, ever-evolving and experienced through the meal of our physical food and the meal of our spiritual food, conversation, laughter, questions, and comments.
Our Genesis Kitchens are reflections of our "earth-heaven". What was grown in the earth has found its way to our table, and having been fed from the earth, we are nourished and strengthened to create heaven here and now. Our kitchens are the backbone of spirit, mind, and body. If we are not strengthened and nourished in our bodies, we are unable to fulfill the creation of the kingdom in our mind and hearts. If our stomachs are growling, that is all we can give our attention to, or focus on. Stomachs fed, we are sent forth to "be the church" outside of this temple, starting in our own homes, and going out to our workplaces, our schools, our playgrounds, our grocery stores, our places of worship, our neighborhoods, our gyms, and our backyards. As we grow our bodies, the kingdom is also growing as we feed and nourish empty hearts with love and compassion.
And God said is written throughout the Book of Genesis. A lot of our conversations take place in the kitchen. Charles and I laugh because the two of us seem to talk in "sound bytes". In our kitchen, we are always trying to communicate to each other while our children are trying to get our attention about what is important to them. Charles and I have learned to get the most out of our words by choosing them carefully and sparingly. The smallest amount of words you can speak that can get the message across and get the "job done" is how Charles and I communicate with each other in our kitchen-temple. God uses His words in the Book of Genesis sparingly as well, holding what he envisioned in his mind, while being very concise with his spoken words. He didn't give a lot of description about what he wanted, but said just enough to make the invisible visible. His words were the first "cookbook" of creation. Pull out a cookbook and turn to one of your favorite recipes. A list of very specific ingredients, amounts abbreviated, a few concise directions put in order, and you have chocolate cake. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. When God creates, He is a God of few words that hold great promise and inspire large action! We are God's creations that have inherited the divine ability to create out of intention, love, and promise... beautiful and fulfilling. Feeding my children is an act of creation that is lived out everyday. Holding a thought in my head about what to make for dinner, coming up with the ingredients, and taking action, I eventually end up with a meal to put on the table to be shared with my family and others. A real miracle performed everyday! We are divine creators in our own temples, sharing with others what we've thought about and made with our own hands. The world is God's kitchen, where God is always inspiring us to create something through a thought, divinely ordered direction, and action, with the finished product,happily and generously shared with others. Creation isn't creation unless it is born from desire and love, freely given to those in need, and shared in a joyful manner.
Our kitchens are full of gospel inspiration! What kitchen doesn't hold salt, mustard, and a loaf of bread? What kitchen doesn't have the purpose of feeding the hungry? What kitchen doesn't have some fresh fruit and provide something made of seed-bearing plants and four-legged creatures? What kitchen doesn't have clean, running water? What kitchen doesn't have a place for loved ones and friends to sit around a table and remember that God is good all of the time? What mom stands in a kitchen and doesn't hear the words, I'm hungry, Mom. What's for dinner? God wants us to come to Him and say, I'm hungry, God. What have you made for me? Fill me up with a feast of love and peace. What mom doesn't pour love into the chocolate chip cookies that are made for little hands to hold and little mouths to enjoy? What has God made that He doesn't pour his love into so that we can taste its goodness and enjoy what He labored to make just for us? One day, I actually pulled out my bread machine and made a loaf of bread, and as it was baking, Nathan walks over and declares, with a huge grin on his face, I smell victory, Mom! I'm pretty sure when we are satisfied and full, God declares victory too! And then there is Olivia who sits at the counter with her dry erase board and proceeds to draw Mr. Potato Head. Holding it up she says, Mom, Look I made Mr. Potato Head. Here is his nose, his eyes, his arms, and here is his penis! Sure enough. Mr. Potato Head has all his parts. Very creative, Olivia!
Are you a "Mary Mom" in your kitchen or a "Martha Mom" in your kitchen? Sometimes we are in a hurry to get a meal on the table or get the lunches packed or the picnic basket ready for the park, and we "forget" the importance of what we are creating. We are Marth-busy in our kitchens, scurrying around, hoping we didn't forget anything, tired, and yet hopeful that someone will eat what we put on the table. And some days, we are more of a "Mary Mom" in our kitchen. It is almost therapeutic and meditative to put a meal together. I don't know about you, but there are times I actually look forward to going into the kitchen by myself and fixing dinner, occupying my heart and mind with thanksgiving and putting my whole mind and heart into what I am doing. Smelling the sweet peppers as I cut them open, noticing their bright colors and feeling my mouth water while I prepare a favorite meal. And sometimes I want to be a "Mary Mom" in my kitchen but am forced to be a "Martha Mom" because we have the next commitment to get to and we need to eat fast!
There are moments when I feel like a vending machine, like the kitchen never closes in our house. Someone is always hungry and looking to be filled. Standing in my kitchen, striving to be an imitator of God, coming up with yet another snack, we are sign and symbol of God's availability and desire to feed us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, day and night as evenings turn into mornings. Wait, didn't God rest on the seventh day? The line in the book of Creation, "Be fruitful and multiply" is at the heart of every kitchen. Our kitchen creations can be fruitful in all ways. Fruitful conversations in our kitchens multiply loving actions outside of our kitchens. Fruitful meals multiply the strength to serve the needy. Fruitful art that hangs on our refrigerators multiply ideas, images, and inspiration that produce greater happiness and wider smiles. What we find in our cupboards can multiply our gratitude for God's never-ending abundance for our stomachs and hearts.
Let us look around our kitchens with the spiritual eye, looking over all we make there - meals, conversations, art projects, science experiments, lists, drinks of water, lined up lunch boxes on countertops, dirty dishes, clean dishes, trash overflowing, crumbs to be wiped up, and cheerios that need to be swept off of the floor, and see that it is all very good! And when we find a moment of rest from our kitchens, may we declare everything and everyone in our kitchen-temples blessed and holy. Let us remember to pray for those kitchens and households that have dirt floors and get their water by carrying buckets everyday to use in their "kitchens". Let us pray for, and help, the working poor who open their cupboards and wonder how and when they will be filled. Let us pray for, and help, the moms who hear their children's cry for food, and feel helpless and hopeless to feed them.
As I finish this up, Olivia is asking for a snack...ice cream. Go figure. The dishwasher is on the rinse cycle, I have meat thawing in the fridge for tomorrow, and the Vacation Bible School take-home letter is hanging on by a corner on the refrigerator. A list of "don't forgets" for tomorrow is underneath the letter and pots and pans are soaking in the sink. Mail, and a request for leading a quiet day, on a post-it-note, sits on my kitchen desk. I'm convinced that our God is a Kitchen-Lovin'-God...a God who fills us with a desire for something that will fill us... using the inspired thought, the right ingredients, and the perfect actions to set everything into motion.
You are born of a Creator with the divine inheritance of having the ability to create with the authority of the spoken word. When you awaken to what you desire, and you hold the thought of what you would like to see,(what is invisible), also known as intention, and you ask God to inspire action, and put the outcome in His hands,( what is visible) you have participated in the holy act of creation. You have stepped into God's kitchen, put on an apron, and made something pretty special together at your altar. Just as a child loves to pour the cup of sugar, crack the egg, and take her turn stirring the ingredients together, you have done your part every time you have acted on a desire that God has placed in your heart. And just like a child, we can't wait to taste and see what has been made by loving hands and an enthusiastic heart. Our minds and hearts are God's kitchen. It is where God goes to create something valuable and filling. Something that will feed a hungry world. God uses our minds, our hearts, and our hands to help the anorexic heart...the hearts that are literally starved for love and purpose. The anorexic heart is always on the edge of death, literally afraid to feel the weight of happiness and contentment with who they are. Always afraid to trust that they are a beautiful creation of God, never quite believing that they are loveable, and that what they have to create matters to all of us. When you pray, you enter the kitchen in your heart and mind, and you open up the tabernacle- cupboards to find every ingredient you will need for the day to love someone that needs it. You will sit down at the table, set just for you, and dine on compassion, forgiveness, joy, and patience. You will feast on a merry heart and taste and see how good God is. And when you rise from that table, filled and content on the feast of truth, knowledge, and understanding, you will set a resurrection table for someone else, so that they too, might be able to taste and see how wonderful our Creator is, and how wonderful it feels to be His Co-Creator.
