Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Kitchen Counter Intentions


As I slog through life, the day-to-day stuff.... Cooking, cleaning toilets, folding laundry... Sometimes I look for the meaning in it all. Do you know what I mean? I mean, I like food (Ok, I LOVE food) as much as the next person, I enjoy a clean toilet, I appreciate a clean counter....

But that can't be all, right? (Did I really just type "I enjoy a clean toilet"??!)

I've been thinking quite frequently lately about what it means to live intentionally. I had an epiphany this morning. It came as I was in the middle of teaching my youngest at the kitchen table... While baking cookies... During an interruption of these two things, actually...

It came in the form of a deep, meaningful conversation that took place between my oldest son, my husband, and I. 

At the kitchen counter. 

It occurs to me, it OCCURED to me, that intentional living isn't necessarily going OUT and finding purposeful pursuits. Nor does it always mean big external changes.

Sometimes it is just stopping. Recognizing. Making a space for beauty and connection and love to happen. Looking someone in the eye in an unhurried way. 

Prioritizing relationships over to-do lists. 

...and having the margin in which to exist in that space because you HAVE done the things on your to-do list regularly. 

I'm finding intention to be much less about doing new things and much more about being present and purposeful in the already-happening things. 

It is a work in progress, for sure. 

My kitchen counter has seen a lot of things. I think of the joyful celebrations where it has been laden with a variety of dishes filled with delicious treats. I remember hard times, during which prayers happened over the counter. I recount many, many conversations with my sons, especially my older son as he has grown into a man. Often as I was cooking a meal and he wandered in. 

Precious things. Wonderful moments, full of meaning and purpose. 

Finding the intentional moments in my day, I can tell, will mean many hours over my kitchen counter. Whether that's working, or praying, or celebrating..... Listening, weeping, talking... I'm not sure. 

But I'm in. All in. 

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