God in the Corning Ware

I’ve been doing some light reading lately….particularly, “The Interior Castle” by St. Teresa of Avila. Light reading, indeed. 😊

But, because the book has been so challenging and inspiring and…..well, because I’m geeky like this…..I sought out a podcast that deals with Christian mysticism, those historical Christian men and women reputed to have supernatural experiences with God.

On the podcast, the professor being interviewed relayed a quote attributed to Teresa that really grabbed my attention.

“The Lord walks amongst the pots and pans.”

For whatever reason, I just love that!

Immediately, my mind went to my reading of “The Practice of the Presence of God” many years ago where Brother Lawrence exhorts us to raise our awareness of God’s presence no matter what we’re doing; even if we are (wait for it now…) working in the kitchen.

What is it with holy people and their obsession with all things culinary?

In fact, this quote by Teresa reminded me of something Brother Lawrence wrote specifically:

“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen… I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”

I want you to know that when I first read this, it impacted my walk with Christ forever.

This simple premise…..the idea that we can be intimately connected to God no matter where we are or what we’re doing…….has been life-changing for me. It took me from a walk with the Lord that was less of a walk and more like a roller-coaster ride, to one that is much steadier and more consistent.

What I got from Brother Lawrence and now, in this quote from Teresa of Avila, is a reminder that the promise is that God is with us all the time. That those who are in Christ has constant access to the Divine.

Not just when we are on our knees in our prayer closets. Not just when we take an hour and write in our journals. Not only when we come to church on Sundays……but at all times, and in all places.

Perhaps you already know this. Maybe you practice it. You might be reading this blog and rolling your eyes as if to say, “Uh…..DUH…..Aaron…..EVERYONE knows that.”

I can only say that I didn’t know that for much of my lifetime.

For many years, my walk with the Lord was reminiscent of a walk through the mountains; UP the mountainside and thrilled to get to the top……only to be followed by a long trek downward and into the valley or the “hollers” in between.

My spiritual life was a beacon of inconsistency!

Finding that God is in the kitchen was a revelation that changed my thinking entirely.

And guess what? He’s not just in the kitchen. He’s in the shower, on my lawnmower, in the car, and even present when I’m doing laundry (which explains why I always thought the hymn, “Bringing in the Sheaves” was really “Bringing in the Sheets”).

Seriously, I loved this quote by Teresa; “The Lord walks amongst the pots and pans.”

Isn’t that amazing?

The God of the universe can be found even in the mundane.

The Creator of all….all-powerful……all-knowing…..-ever-present…….He is willing and eager to meet us in the pots and pans; in the simplest of places.

To me, that’s a gamechanger.

Brother Lawrence discovered it because he hated having kitchen duty and discovered that even in this duty that he despised, he could meet with the Lord.

I’m not sure if Teresa abhorred the kitchen or not. Legend is that in the middle of frying eggs, she experienced a vision and levitated off the floor, with the other nuns trying to hold her down and avoid the frying pan falling on their heads.

I can tell you this…..pressing into this reality has rocked my world, and it can impact yours as well.

Now, I try very hard to have an ongoing conversation with God. I realize that He is there any time I turn to Him.

And not only is He there…..He is eager to spend that time with me.

I can scarcely believe it, honestly.

After all, I know where I’ve been and what I’ve done. I know how undeserved I am of anything from the Lord. I know that not only do I not deserve His time and attention…..I deserve quite the opposite. I have violated His principles and values repeatedly in my lifetime. I have been immoral, unloving, and stiff-necked (or stubborn….but I wanted to use a King James word here).

And yet…..in spite of all this, God meets me in the kitchen. He walks amongst my pots and pans. He is right there…..in the Corning ware…..waiting for me to engage.

And so…..I scrub and I talk. He hands me the “Dawn,” and He listens.

And it’s wonderful.

And maybe that’s the part that still catches me off guard.

Not that God is powerful. Not that He is everywhere. Not even that He is holy.

But that He is willing.

Willing to meet me there. In the middle of the ordinary. In the middle of the undone dishes and the unfinished thoughts. In the middle of a life that still doesn’t look the way I wish it did.

I can understand a God who demands I come to Him. I can even understand a God who waits for me to clean things up first.

But a God who steps into the kitchen…who walks among the pots and pans…who meets me in the Corning ware?

That’s harder to take in.

And yet…that’s exactly where He is.