We have had the blessing of many, many meals brought over after Joseph's birth, and I am so thankful for the love and care that went into each one of them. However, after four weeks my family is missing "Mom cooking," so I'm cooking a simple supper tonight -- burritos, with a side of rice and black beans. A great culinary experience it is not.
And yet...
One by one, my children have come into the kitchen, bent their heads over the pots on the stove, and exclaimed, "Oh, this smells so good!" (Sean actually proclaimed it to be "heavenly"... God bless him!)
After they left I smiled as I stirred the food, and I thought:
"By virtue of my office, I dictate what home is for ten people."
I'm not a master chef, and yet the way *I* cook is the way my children think things are supposed to taste.
The way I fold clothes is the "proper" way to do it.
The atmosphere I create here forms what my family considers to be home.
What a privilege! To think that I, just mucking around doing my job, am somehow forming their lifelong perceptions of how things should be is stunning. I shouldn't be stunned, because after all these years, I am still trying to do things the way MY mom did them. No one can make roast beef and browned potatoes the way my mom does. Her meatloaf is the standard by which I judge all others. I set up my kitchen based on how she set up hers. I fold clothes the way she does.
It makes sense to me that I should emulate her, but it's mind-boggling to me when I realize that I've got eight little ones following ME, watching and learning.
It covers much more than simple homemaking, however. Many, many times I have caught a glimpse of my children watching me as I pray, or read the Bible, or participate in Mass. What are they seeing in me? What sorts of lifelong perceptions of God have they formed in their heads because of my actions?
May the Lord repair what I've done badly, and may He bless all the good that has been done in this family!
4 comments:
Love this post! I've never thought about this but it's true!
What a privilege we have as Moms!
So, how is the book coming along?
So true! Even in our most mundane actions, we are modeling life and love and vocation. Great reminder that I want to be a good model.
I'd like to link to this from my blog. Thanks for the morning inspiration.
I love this post! So beautiful!
My husband was riding the bus to work one day and sat behind two 50 year old Latino men talking in great detail and with great joy about their grandma's cooking. His story made me cry. I thought about those Catholic women who were dead in the grave a long time, yet here were their grandson's admiring a meal they made 40 years later.
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