Hey, Friends! Happy New Year!
Last year I started a photo album of meals that my army approved of. I used Shutterfly to make a small photo book and included a rough recipe of what the meal included.
As I wait for it to arrive in the mail, I have been thinking about what I’ve learned about God from cooking.
I started young, cooking for a big family! After cooking for her own army for a decade, my mom figured it was time for me to learn. My dad, who loves to cook but worked long days and didn’t want to put on his chef hat when he got home, agreed. Just in time, too; my mom got pregnant with my youngest sister and (I imagine) it really helped to have that extra help through her pregnancy. I think I was about thirteen when the food I cooked actually started getting palatable! But I loved to cook, so I got better through practice and enjoyed the creative outlet as I grew into a young woman.
When I got married, Brook could only cook instant mac and cheese and make grilled cheese sandwiches. That was it. Our first few weeks of marriage were hilarious because I had no idea how to cook for two and he had no idea how to cook at all! After a few months, we figured it out and I started teaching him to cook. Now, the kids prefer his food over mine 9/10 times…I think it’s because he doesn’t ever make vegetables.
In learning to cook, and continuing to feed this little battalion of soldiers, I’ve gleaned this about them and about God:
These people I live with are always hungry. It never changes. And much as I depend on God to be there for me day in and day out, as I hunger for his peace, strength, protection and perspective, my kids yearn for the consistency of nourishing food delivered by a happy, loving mother.
Do we eat a good bit of take out? Yes.
Did I look for a nanny that can cook to help out in the kitchen? Yes!
But God uses pastors and other believers to keep our spiritual hunger satiated.
If God, in His absolute power, is able to constantly inspire and provide guidance for His children, then I suppose that I can muster up enough energy and love to keep cooking for these (not so) little ones of mine. As a friend told me this year, Hinman boys are built Ford tough!
Friends, my prayer for you in this new year is that you see God in everything, even the menial and mundane, like that pot of boiling water that will soon bring smiling faces to the kitchen table!
