For years growing up, that was my Dad's way of asking what was for dinner, and it drove my Mom bananas. Upon finishing the meal, the typical response was an imitation of my Pappy's deep drawl, "pretty fair chow bay-bee."
My cooking skills are limited to breakfast. I can scramble eggs and I make a pretty faithful version of my Grandma Denton's homemade biscuits. That's about where it ends.
My wife, on the other hand, is a wizard in the kitchen. She takes pride in cooking anything and everything and she loves to experiment with new ideas, especially when it comes to our little Dylan who apparently has a food allergy. (What exactly he is allergic to we have yet to uncover, but currently Kim has taken him off of dairy and gluten and the rash that has been bothering him is clearing up nicely.)
Back to my main point though, a meal in the Williams household is rarely a quick or easy feat. She puts out dishes that deserve to be shown on the Food Network, and we've actually joked that she should send in an idea for a show called "One Armed Chef," since many times, she's cooking while holding a baby.
I love to come home to the aroma of dinner cooking. To me, that's home. I really need to fix the weatherstripping on our front door because I can smell dinner before I walk in! I go to the kitchen to see what is cooking and usually don't have to wait long for dinner to begin. We'll call the boys to the table and as they all run up and go to their chairs, sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, one of them will look at the plate and say, "YUCK!"
Our boys are not really that picky, but sometimes, they do not agree with what it is we are having for dinner and they will complain about it to no end. Sometimes it is something little, like butter on mashed potatoes. Other times it's the whole meal, and they haven't learned that you don't tell someone who just spent hours cooking your dinner that it is "gross."
The other day, my good friend Clay and I met for a prayer breakfast at McDonald's. After discussing who is our favorite Beatle John or Paul, the writing skills of Robert Plant vs. Pete Townshend and the merits of quitting our real jobs to pursue our true calling of becoming rock stars, we settled in on the real task at hand which was, after all, to pray.
My prayer was to obtain the Graces necessary to accept God's Will in all things, and we turned to the analogy a picky eater. Heaven is often described as a wedding feast. A banquet. There will be food and when the LORD serves us our dinner, we better not say "YUCK!"
But sometimes I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing when I don't agree with God's Will for me. He has plans for us all. He has a plan for me. That plan requires my cooperation. He puts things in motion, and if it bucks my system I'm like the boy crying because there's butter on my mashed potatoes.
"How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" --Pink FloydOf course, all kids (myself included) will gladly clean their plates if it is full of dessert! Yet, your belly doesn't stay full for long afterwards, and you are left wanting more. Desserts are not filling, not nourishing and do not sustain our bodies. We need the long lasting food of the banquet. We need meat!
"I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal." --1 Corinthians 3:2It's after dinner now at the Williams household. The boys are upstairs playing, Dylan is watching Go Diego GO and Kim looks at me and says "If you do the dishes I'll be your best friend..."
"I want you to 'want' to do the dishes" --My wife
Remember how I said that Kim is a wizard in the kitchen? Well, it takes a lot of pots and pans and measuring cups and baking pans and spoons and forks and knives and just about every item in our pantry to prepare that meal! And I totally agree with the "I cook, you clean" philosopy of duties. But, WOW, the kitchen looks like a tornado just ripped through Sur la Table! Now, this is where God is molding me. He knows that I need this. I need to understand that to get the good - the feast, the prize, the eternal reward; I have to deal with the things that help get me there. In short, God's plan has dishes! Illness. Job uncertainty. Monetary struggles. Temptations. Africa. These are all just part of the deal. You have to take the bad with the good. There could be no Resurrection on Easter Sunday until Christ had suffered and died on Good Friday.
I want to do God's dishes. I want to be at the Heavenly banquet, and I want to clean my plate. And when I'm done, I want to look up at God and say, "Pretty fair chow bay-bee."
