"The Kitchen" | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: "The Kitchen" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Deborah Berlekamp
01/06/07
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Why is it that I have to shudder when I hear the words ‘cooking’ or ‘baking‘? That is a good question. My husband and children must have pondered it almost as often as I have. In trying to answer this self imposed question, I think its safe to say that ‘cooking’ and ‘baking’ involve ‘THE KITCHEN.‘ I have no natural desire to participate in anything involving “THE KITCHEN.” In fact, I think I have a rather unnatural desire to run out of most kitchens, including my own, on a daily basis. The metal, the clanging, the messy messes, the burnt offerings, plus all of the wasted food (that I‘ve cooked and no one liked)…well they just turn me off.
I do use the microwave to heat water for my tea. Actually, the one thing I truly enjoy about my kitchen is the percolator my mom gave me a few years ago, which she got at an estate sale. It makes wonderful coffee, if you buy the right coffee. I like good coffee. Oh, and I also like my new white stove that my husband cooks on. (Can you believe that my Aunt Kasimir was a cook in a castle?)
Seriously, maybe it’s because I have felt that kitchen duties have always been duties that were expected from me (as a wife and mother), but I do not like cooking or baking very much. I am not that good at them either, and I do not like to fail. I like to paint walls and rearrange furniture and love to decorate. I like to read, and watch good movies. I like to work in my pharmacy. And I like to go out to eat. Does all of that make me a horrible person?
Yes, yes, yes and a resounding YES. But only in the eyes of those who think that is what I ‘should’ be doing. I must admit, that I have indeed felt horrible at times for not being a kitchen lover. However, our Father God is the One Who made me, and He loves me. He put the desires, talents and dreams that I do have into my head. I believe that if he wanted me to like to cook, He would have given me the “she likes to cook” genes. Apparently, He gave me some other likes instead. (1 Corinthians 7:7 says “...each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.”)
The problem is, not liking to cook doesn’t mean that I can get away with not feeding my family. They do need nourishment, and since I am the parent, I should try to fulfill the duty. (See Proverbs 31:30 “…she provides food for her family…“) So I do cook once in awhile. Taco and bell are not dirty words in our house. And my teens have been known to eat over at their friends’ homes on occasion. We also have cereal and cheese and toast and canned vegetable soups, and some really good Lean Cuisine meals in the freezer. The fam isn’t starving. And by the way, I do love to make Christmas cut out cookies. Even when they are in crumbly pieces. No one is a failure when they decorate one.
So although the words (and the actual tasks of ) cooking and baking obviously produce some anxiety in me, I am thankful that God has given me other gifts and interesting ways of fulfilling the mandate of providing nourishment. May He bless your hands and your gifts as well.

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