The other day a friend of mine said, “You can tell a lot about a person when you look at their kitchen.” As I looked at her immaculate kitchen, my mind raced with opinions of what others would have to say about me and my kitchen.
The following morning while I was cleaning up my kitchen, her statement rattled through my psyche. I began to look at different areas of the room and ponder the question, “Really, what does my kitchen say about me?”
I snapped a few photos and began to journal. Here’s my first thought (of about ten in a series titled, “Lessons from My Kitchen”):
My fruit bowl…The basin of produce in my home doesn’t always look so appealing (much like the photo). When I purchase these healthy items, it is with good intention. It’s one of those things that when we have no fruit, family members ask, “Do we have any bananas?” Or someone makes the remark “I wish we had some apples.” Of course, when I do purchase them, well…you can see what happens.
So this bowl of fruit led me to believe that sometimes in life you have good intentions, things go wrong, so that’s when you “make lemonade out of lemons”.
When the bananas start to have those brown spots, I get a little giddy thinking that it won’t be long and I can just make some delicious banana bread.
When there are a plethora of apples left over from the bag that I purchased and not all were eaten, that just means that the kitchen is about to get filled with the aroma of a scrumptious apple cake.
Oh, and when you have a lemon at the bottom of the bowl and it may be past using for food or beverage purposes, cut it in half, put on in the sink disposal, turn it on, and allow the smell of lemon fill your kitchen and clean your sink. Save the other half for the next day.
Recently, I had a dear person in my life do something with good intentions. They served well in this area of their lives for many years, and were a blessing to many. An incident occurred, and it stunk! It really stunk. Through these type of experiences in our lives, we must realize: We can’t go back and change things, what’s done is done; Let’s focus on how we are going to move forward and bring glory to God through it all; One must seize this as an opportunity to grow closer to God and depend on Him.
Here’s one of my all time favs that I read often: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:3-5
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3
“Dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32
“Great blessings belong to those who suffer persecution for doing what is right. God’s kingdom belongs to them.People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do that, know that great blessings belong to you. Be happy about it. Be very glad because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did these same bad things to the prophets who lived before you.” Matthew 5:10-12
“And we know that God causes everything to work togetherfor the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28
Look around your kitchen and ponder on what others may say about you. Turn it into a God lesson. I hope you stay tuned for more “Lessons from My Kitchen”).
I pray many blessings and much joy for you! Have a wonderful day. – Stephanie
