When I cook, I am choosing from among myriad ingredients available in the world – eggs with yolks so yellow I wonder if they are real; Copper River salmon more vibrant than any other fish I know, only available for a short time each year; fresh tomatoes streaked with the colors of a sunset. When I cook, I am taking what God has made and adding myself as an ingredient. My mind, my palate, my tongue are other examples of God’s creation. I add my own flavor to everything I touch.
And just as every tomato isn’t going to be perfect, neither am I. It is all right to fumble, to start over, to learn from my mistakes and adjust. These failures keep me humble. I am able to embrace my birthright as co-creator – a role filled not with anxiety, but with endless creativity, with play.
This message is excerpted from “In the kitchen with God” by Cara Strickland in the December 2019 Gather magazine.
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