My Cozy Place

Lately I have been loving to spend time in my kitchen. Not to cook or clean, but to be. We have this kitchen table. I'm sure it's meant to be an island but we like to have it against the wall for more walking space. It's a large wooden tabletop with two white trestle shelf legs. It's a wide, sturdy, and hermosa mesa.


I find that table to be the most quiet space in our home. It's a safe place I can lay out food, like the carrots that need shredding or the strawberries that need to be sliced for a yogurt parfait. It's a leveled place I can lay open my bible to read or to lay out my journal to write out my prayers and thoughts.

Our kitchen and I are a team. We work together to sustain lives with fuel, comfort, and joy. My husband and I say "come with me to the kitchen" when we have our guests, or even to each other. It's a place where one can lean back and talk while the other leans in to serve.

The kitchen is the cornerstone of a home: it's where we can create something and all can benefit from the creation. When food is smelled or tasted by a person it gets all their senses working; you can't ignore the potent smell of garlic in the air and you can't help but smile after that first bite of a cookie straight out of the oven.

The kitchen reminds us that everything is perishable, things have a shelf life, things are vulnerable, and all things need to be treated with care. You're not going to leave eggs loose in the refrigerator -- you're going to make sure they're safely wrapped!

But some of us resent this place because it can get messy. The mess comes from something good. It shows us that even when something great happens some bad can come with it; but the bad does not take away all the good that filled us up in the first place. And the bad can easily be cleaned away -- it's not permanent.

I used to see a kitchen as a messy and crowded place. I used to see it as a place for only older women who knew how to cook. I did not consider myself worthy to be in there or as if it were my own; it was my mother's, hah. She knew how to work any small space of a kitchen. She knew where every dish and snack was that if she wasn't home we could call her just to ask her. Now I can finally relate. I know our kitchen and now I answer my husband's questions as he searches for things.

There's something about the relationship between a woman and her home. It can speak to us and we understand it. There's a reason why the home is a special place for women. We like to make it beautiful with our framed photos and clean floors. There's no shame in up-keeping your home as the woman of your house. It's not a lost trait; it's worthy. 

A lot of the anthems today are women leaving their homes behind and focusing on the marketplace. While I believe women can and should be in the marketplace (trust me, I'm a career woman), I don't think we have to pit them against each other. Why not embrace all of it? A lot can make up a woman's priorities and values.

I'm content with having it all. I can truly, truly say I completely understand and relate to dear Paul in Philippians when he says "I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation... For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."

I have had my career taken away from me and I was left with being a housewife -- something I have never ever wanted! To just be a housewife; I used to look down on that. But I have learned to be content in that place, and now I have honest joy in being a homemaker. Only God could have brought that transformation and change in my heart. I am entering back into my career and I am even more joy-filled because I get to have. it. all. Thank you, Lord.

A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.
 —  Proverbs 14:1

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.
 —  Proverbs 31:27

She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night.
 —  Proverbs 31:17-18

I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion.
— Jeremiah 33:8