Our Lord Moves Amidst the Pots and Pans
My grandmomma and great-grandmomma believed that Godly women are supposed to know how to cook while managing a household. We are now living in times where some women and men can’t even boil an egg. The women who taught me to cook would be shocked! They believed that a righteous woman shops wisely and makes do with what she has at hand to keep her family nutritiously fed.
I was lucky enough to know and learn how to prep and cook from these excellent Deep South cooks who made three complete meals a day from scratch—from breads to two proteins, two starches, two vegetables and a salad. They could both make desserts, but those were only for special occasions like birthdays. In their kitchens, I experienced deep love. As they trained me, they also shared their faith and those life lessons they wanted me to know. It was a special bond of passing along what they knew about cooking and life.
How could these women of faith, who spent so much time in their kitchens, not silently pray and express their gratitude while doing their daily tasks? No wonder this saying by Catholic St. Teresa of Avila has made it onto kitchen plaques: “Know that even when you are in the kitchen, our Lord moves amidst the pots and pans.” It reminds me of “A Prayer for Peeling Potatoes” by the late Marjorie Holmes who wrote that when she peeled potatoes, she was grateful. “I suddenly feel near to you, my creator. And near to the past which produced me, near to all the people from which I came.”
I’m grateful to continue to pass these lessons on to family members. Both of our sons learned to cook from me and have their own specialties. Stuart is my breakfast man and griller. Zachary makes excellent deviled eggs, pizza (dough from scratch), cookies and cheesecake. My husband Rodney has become an excellent cook along the way. My greatest blessing is cooking with our grandchildren. Our granddaughter, Elizabeth, 4, and grandson, Peter, 2, enjoy prepping food with me for meals when we are together.
They like to measure, stir (even though lots of the flour goes onto the table around the bowl), mix so they can lick the beaters, and laugh while having fun. Depending on what we are making, they really like tasting everything – party mix, in particular. Look for creative and unique ways to teach children about God. I feel it is important to show your children how you can incorporate God into every area of their life, and one way is teaching them to cook. These small lessons will help them learn and grow stronger in their faith!
~Pam Rawlinson~
