Growing up in my home, one of the ways my parents expressed love to the people they cared about was through food. My mother could cook anything… I used to open the pantry doors and didn’t see much, but when she opened them, she saw endless possibilities. She never seemed to worry because she could take a little of this and a little of that and make delightful meals. My dad could do the same thing with outdoor cooking. He could smoke, grill, and deep fry anything he found in the freezer. Anita’s family also liked to gather around the table to enjoy good meals, good conversation and lots of love. It was a generational thing. My grandmother was a wonderful cook and Anita’s grandmother loved to feed us until we were swoll up like a tick. When our kids were young, we tried to always gather around the table for a hot breakfast every morning and a hot meal for dinner every night. By the time my kids were teens, they began wanting to express how much they liked their friends by cooking breakfast for them. On Saturdays and Summer days, our kitchen became known as the IHOW (International House of Waffles) with the neighborhood kids who would come over for homemade waffle creations with fruit, chocolate chips, syrup, juice, milk and whatever else that made breakfast taste good. Anita always had some waffle mix and fixin's on hand. Occasionally there were “kitchen incidents” where something went wrong. One kitchen incident involved all my girls. We had an overused toaster oven (think 6 of us in the kitchen) and my youngest was reheating an over buttered waffle, which started a flame inside the toaster oven: My oldest and youngest daughters ran around the kitchen flailing their arms and screaming “fire, Fire, FIRE!” My middle daughter, who happened to be walking by the kitchen at that moment, simply unplugged the appliance, calmly opened the door, blew out the small flame like blowing out a candle, and kept walking. The other two just looked at each other, began laughing and fixed another waffle.
God loves us all so much and shows that love when He provides for us in so many ways. When Jesus was talking to His disciples, He tells them to make a priority of loving God and people. He tells them not to worry. He reminds them that God knows what they really need and He will provide. He says, “So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you." Matthew 6:31-33 (CSB) One of the ways we can love each other well is preparing good food to share, thanking God for it, and enjoying it together.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
