God in a Pot of Baked Beans

On Monday this week I woke up with a surge of energy and decided that I would tackle all the housework that had gone unattended over the past month. In my world cleaning also means that everything has to be moved and if you are going to move then you might as well rearrange.

With that in mind I started in the master bedroom and Kaleigh’s room and figured why not just switch them around completely. So all of our things went across the hall to Kaleigh’s room and her things came to ours. After all, a change is as good as a rest, right? The kitchen also needed tending so I started by moving the stove. WOW! What surprises one can find under there! The missing pizza stone, several knives and, well, there was the dirt too. Counters cleaned, floor washed and table cleared – all was looking good.

There were a few things from Kaleigh’s room that needed to be moved to the basement but wait – the floor in the room I had been working on still wasn’t completely laid so off to the basement to finish that. Along the way I found a few gems like my book of Newfoundland stories and my grade 11 year book. Needless to say I had to stop and browse through each of those. In the midst of this, Kaleigh called and we made arrangements for a parcel to get to her and her roommates. I asked if there was anything they needed or wanted, to which Kaleigh replied

“Well some baked beans would be nice.”

So I put on a batch of beans in the slow cooker. I finished up around 10 pm with the bottling of the beans. I surveyed all that I had done and it felt good!

As I thought about this day I asked myself

“Where did I see God in this?”

“What insight might I be able to share with all of you?”

Well, I’m not sure what deep theological insights I might be able to share or, to be honest, even if there are any. What I do know is that getting rid of the clutter, taking time to walk down memory lane, finding things that had been lost and taking time to prepare food for my daughter all fed my soul. Perhaps that is the lesson in this –

we all have far too much stuff cluttering up our lives, mentally and physically, and when we take the time to clean house there is a certain sense of freedom that comes with that;
moments of reconnection with our story help to provide a sense of grounding that is very much needed when the world around us feels to be in chaos;
finding things that have been lost helps to make us whole again; and
taking care of someone else – feeding them – always provides a sense of community and care that somehow isn’t achieved in any other way.

Rereading this I hear in my mind

“And is this not God?”

Yes, it is.

I’ve seen God in a good many places in my lifetime so where did I see God on Monday? I saw God under my stove, in a pot of baked beans …

My prayer for you in this time of anxiety and upheaval

My prayer for you in this time of anxiety and upheaval is that you will find those moments of letting go, reconnection and care and may your soul be fed.

Blessings
Valerie