Mama's kitchen. Is it your favorite place too? I've been in a phase, well for like years, of the kitchen being my favorite room in the house. My tiny kitchen! The room I spend so much of my life in; doing the dishes, cooking, cleaning, preparing lunches, standing around a bowl of hummus snacking for an hour...I mean there seem to be endless reasons to be in the kitchen and I think most of us find ourselves at least once a day wandering in, having no idea why. Right? It calls to us and not just because it's the room with all the food in it. It's also the room where some of the most meaningful conversations take place; the habitat of our daily connection. This is the place where family time & communal eating bring the deep out of our bellies, and true heart to heart connection organically knits us together in love.
This precious room, that despite my best efforts can never stay clean for long, holds such a place in my heart. I've had 12 different kitchens since I left home sixteen years ago. I've had big kitchens & tiny ones and can remember the different faces that illuminated each one along my journy. It's the space where friends have packed in like sardines, nursing beers, talking story & laughing til our bodies doubled over & our sides ached that feel good chemical joy. The place where thousands of seemingly insignificant moments with my family have built themselves one on top of the other into the strong nostalgia that comes over me when I’m alone in this room, communing with my Father. The record player or speaker is nearly always filling the air waves with something good & groovy and the spontaneous dance parties & dish-washing prayer sessions that break out on the daily are the parts of my routine that give my soul rest. I love this room. So many times I’ve found myself on the floor in the kitchen, intentionally(!), with my journal & pen in hand, transcribing the whispers of my heart because it's here in this room where I feel 100% myself.
It makes me think of my Mom’s kitchen and how we have always gravitated to that room more than any other. In a house full of beautiful, open, light-filled rooms, her Tuscany inspired kitchen is where we inevitably end up. There’s something so pure & special about a woman in her kitchen. It’s the place of her sacrifice; the altar on which she presents her humble work as a caregiver in her home. So much life happens in our kitchens and I think about how ancient this connection is to the role of woman throughout history. I love feeling connected to my Mom and my Grandma and the women in my family - even the ones I’ve never met & know little about - all the way back to the first woman who learned the art of home making, bread baking & what herbs tasted best with what meats. This is an ancient practice and here at our hearths are ancient lessons on the importance of togetherness.
We may never meet each other in this life or share a colorful meal together in fellowship, but we all have this one room in common and are bound to each other in a sisterhood that is ancient to Eve. I’m learning to be present in these moments of life that seem to come and go without consequence, because I believe that what I do in the insignificant moments matters, and I want my children and my husband to see that even the minutes in-between have value. Cooking everyday can be wearisome. Cleaning the same areas fifty times a day is draining. Taking care of children & animals & our spouses is exhausting. Motherhood can be thankless work, but oh the worth of this work! I want to challenge you today, like I am challenging myself - to view the time spent home making in the kitchen as a sacred stage on which we display our love for the people who have been given into our charge. This isn't about gender roles, but an ancient connection to hearth & home.
So many Scriptures, too many to count, reference feasting in fellowship & remembrance of what God has done. The connection that takes place over bread broken together is heaven designed. He promises new wine and a river of delights, satisfaction & a sense of belonging that we can only dream of. One of the saddest things to me is the assumption that God is grumpy, irritated, pious, unapproachable & not much fun. I want to shake those thoughts off you right now because there is not one shred of evidence that I've found to indicate that He is anything other than the ultimate, only & infinite source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self control. The rush of endorphins & dopamine you feel when you laugh, that was HIS idea!
So as you load the dishwasher today, or meal prep, or stick a pizza in the oven, let yourself engage with the space around you and feel how special it is. God is there. He made you for encounter - with Himself & those around you. This whole big millennia long story is all about family, and you’re an integral part of it. Deeper revelation on your place in the family is waiting for you, just beneath the surface of every moment. Gather with your family, invite your friends over, prepare a feast, celebrate each other. Put on your favorite playlist and do something that jolts you awake to this beautiful, heavenbound-human family tree. You belong here.
This is wonderful..I've never felt so many positive thoughts towards any one room than the kitchen right now!