What's For Dinner Mom?

            It had been a long day at home.  We had been busy and evening was upon us.  Chris and I were sitting on the couch and our children were intently playing outside.  We were tired and not feeling very creative.

            “You know we just had a late lunch.  I’m not very hungry.”  “I’m not either.”  “I bet the kids will be fine.  They can just eat whatever.  I’m not making dinner tonight.”

            And somewhere in the distance, a peal of thunder and lightning could be heard.  After I said those fateful words, everything began to change. 

            I felt new found freedom.  Maybe even euphoria!  All this time.  What am I going to do?  I felt like dancing.  I would not be making dinner for 7 tonight.  Mwah ha ha!!

            The first of the children trickled in and asked what we were having for dinner.  “I am not making dinner tonight.  You can have whatever you find.  I think there are some cookies on the counter.”   Cookies?!  Well, why not?  It won’t hurt every now and then. 

            Within a couple of hours, cookies were not cutting it anymore.  I began to suspect that my decision to “take a night off from the kitchen” was not going to be without its bumps in the road. 

            Now, we often don’t have fabulous, five course, home cooked meals.  But, Chris and I always have some kind of dinner for the kids, even if its just eggs and toast.  But I decided that I wouldn't help with anything.  Not even look for the hidden box of cereal. 

            Then, my husband began to feel the effects of my freedom declaration.  He came to me with a questioning look and asked what he was to do?  I just told him, “I don’t know.  Do whatever you want.”  It was not one of my shining helpmeet moments.  He was lost.  I was stalwart.  His support system was leaving him out in the open without any back-up.  The rabble were becoming more and more dissatisfied. 

            Within the hour, the pizza delivery menu came out. 

            So, when the children would have been going to bed, they were devouring pizza that had cost us more than dollars.  It had cost us peace and joy. 

             We laugh about it now.  But, I want you to know that I purposed to do things differently after the night that I freed myself from the kitchen’s chains.

            How many things do we do in our home, in our church, in our family, that we think don't matter much to other people?  That hug and kiss every morning and night.  Those fresh laundered sheets, still warm from the dryer on a child’s bed at night.  Finding the lost keys again for the thousandth time.   Telling a story from your childhood.   Taking the trash out. 

            Scripture tells us to not grow weary in well doing, and that we are to be faithful in little before we can be faithful in much.  As my husband likes to say, the home is the training ground for leadership in every other area of life.  All good leaders are servants first and foremost.

            I saw my role as helpmeet and mother through the eyes of six other people that day.  They looked to me for a reminder that they are loved and cared for. Love and care wrapped up in a meal.  It broke my heart.  I did not know that a simple thing like a meal could impact so much. 

            So, do not loose heart.  Press on.  Iron that shirt, scrub that toilet, spend hours on the cake that will be eaten in minutes.  Doing for others often rewards us far more than doing something that only benefits ourselves.  Show the love of Christ to someone else.  Let us die a little, and find life and joy in the serving of another.          

                  ~Your Fellow Sojourner

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19