Burnt Meat

How many of us love our Mother’s cooking?! You can think of that special dessert she makes, that entrée that is to die for, the cookie that you crave…Most of us have those memories, and when we think back, our mouths water!

As I sat eating my lunch today, I just began to think about my love for cooking and how my Mom and Grandma both instilled this in me, and gave me much direction. I so appreciate that, but there was an even greater insight into this walk down memory lane. As I sat chewing on a piece of egg roll I had burnt in the cooking process, I began to realize what I’ve been learning as I’ve grown older and more observant.

As soon as the word “Amen” was said at the end of our meal time prayer, it was a free for all for the food. Everyone wanted the biggest piece of chicken, the first mound of mashed potatoes or the hottest rolls. Mom never participated in this dive for the “best” of the serving platter. She always waited, many times served and her plate was continually filled last. Not only was she the last to get her food, but she always had the burnt pieces, the fatty pieces, the smallest pieces. And, never once complained. I didn’t realize it then, but she just took away the undesirable burnt char or cut away the fatty hunk, and enjoyed it as the same as what the rest of us were eating. What we saw as the less desirable, Mom realized was all the same…it just needed a bit of TLC.

That’s exactly how God works!!! Not only does He provide for His children; that’s an awesome truth we can take comfort in. BUT, He never sees any of us as undesirable and too burnt to pay attention to. He can take the most charred heart there is, peel away the layers of ugliness and despair, and make something nourishing and tasteful. He not only can, He longs to!!

If you’re in a place where you don’t fully embrace and believe this, pray for a heart that will and does. If you already walk in this truth about how God has restored you, pray for a heart and vision that sees the charred hearts walking around in this world, that you can have the same love and desire to help them peel away the things that are covering up what God intended for them to be! It’s easy to love the “loveable”. It is my plea this week, dear sisters, that we beg God for hearts that truly love the “unloveable”…the ones that the world discards to the side, has no use for…over and over again, God has proven that these discards are the ones whom He can use most mightily!! May we all be willing to be vessels to share this Light with others!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:10

Colossians 1:16