God's Grace in a Pot of Beans

“Would you like to make a pot of beans?” Kelly was looking toward dinner, I was not. I was immersed in "Great Expectations" and navigating the streets of 19th century London with Pip. The time of day was as far from my thoughts as Pip was from meeting his expectations. But, dinner was coming, and Kelly had done most of the cooking to date. Still, whether a bean-filled night of fine dining at our maison temporaire was worthy enough to interrupt my doing of absolutely nothing required further contemplation.

I’ve learned a great way cook dry beans, and we enjoy a bowl more frequently than we would like to admit, given the gastrointestinal gymnastics that can accompany a tasty bowl of legumes. If this pot of cuisinarily delightful orbs was going to materialize, I had to work through all the machinations of making a batch of beans, including some very complicated processes. Heavy work like putting my book down, getting out of my chair, walking all the way over to the kitchen and a million things that have to occur in order to nurture the process of creating culinary art. Just thinking about it almost wore me out!

My love and devotion to my wife and my realization that the dinner hour would arrive whether I made beans or not, motivated me to arise from my easy chair like a sabbaticalized Phoenix majestically rising from the ashes of his restful lair. With great pomp and circumstance, head held high, my level of extreme self-sacrifice worn proudly on my sleeve, I began my march toward the kitchen, taking one step at a time with the nobility of a prince approaching his coronation as king. 

I love cooking. I love the exacting process of bringing a recipe together. I love that it can be accomplished while providing a time for contemplation, clearing the mind of cobwebs and distractions. I’ve found fishing and golf offer the same type of distractions from the daily routine, enough to allow time to breathe and meditate. Cooking, unlike golf, comes with the added blessing of being able to serve someone else, hopefully, to bring a bit of joy into their life.

Somewhere between putting the water on to boil and chopping a few onions (sweet yellow), my mind and heart turned to the Lord and what He was doing in this season of our lives. I began to weep. No, it wasn’t the onions, although I’m reasonably confident they had a part in agitating those first tears to flow.

While I was simply enjoying the feeling of the Spirit moving, I looked over at my wife, who was sitting not more than a few feet away, working on some of the amazing pictures she’s taken while we’ve been away. Wait until you see them! I can take a fairly decent picture---but she elevates photography to a whole new level. She’s an artist who uses a camera as her brush and canvas.

I thought, “As much as I enjoy making these beans, I more so enjoy making them for Kelly. I cook food because I love her. I want to please her, honor her, see her smile.” As I meditated on that for a few moments, my thoughts went to how blessed we are in the beautiful relationship God has given us. Neither of us is perfect, me much farther away from that ideal than her. We are two flawed human beings that have, with the presence and help of the Holy Spirit, learned how to love each other through the flaws and short-comings. After thirty-seven years of living together, our relationship seems to be blossoming into one that loves despite our flaws rather than one that loves only if the flaws of the other are remedied. I can tell you from experience that life is much easier and more enjoyable when we leave the fixing up to the Holy Spirit and decide to just love each other.

By then, I was pulling seasonings out of the cupboard. They led me to ponder how rich and flavorful our lives have become. I got choked up just thinking, “Here I am in France, cooking a pot of beans!  How does this happen? How does someone like me even get the opportunity to do something like this?” It made me appreciate our church family almost as much as I appreciate my wife.

WBF took me in when I knew next to nothing, nurtured me, was patient with me, encouraged me and helped to equip me even though I was a year or two *ahem* beyond the typical age of an “intern” to the ministry. There are days I’m not convinced I’m any wiser than I was in 2002 when I came on staff, but my life has been seasoned and flavored by a generous, benevolent God and by the awesome people at WBF. I love these breaks that are so graciously granted because they give me time to get this sort of perspective, time to meditate on what God has done and is doing in my life and the life of our church.

We’ve both enjoyed unexpected blessings while we’ve been here. We have tremendous, godly hosts. We’re in a town that has embraced us and returns our stumbling and ineptness with the language with kindness and patience. The surroundings are beautiful and our time is totally unstructured. We can wander when we like or cocoon ourselves at home, near the fire when we don’t. We spend a lot of time reading, talking and simply spending time together. We go to bed when we’re tired and rise whenever we’re done sleeping. There’s no urgency, no demands and nothing to distract us from our thoughts and prayers.

We’ve been blessed by the grace of God and the generosity of those around us.

But the blessings go even deeper. The love Kelly and I have

for each other, though we are aware of it and strive for it, is impossible to attain without supernatural help. It is not our efforts that have produced this relationship, it is the Spirit in us, molding us and shaping us into His likeness. The more we become like Him, the easier it is to love unconditionally. We can love each other, in a godly way, because God first loved us, causing us to love Him and want to obey Him. Our love rises, not out of funny, tingle-in-the-belly feeling for each other, but out of our devotion to the Father. If I’m going to be like Him, then I should love like Him, with grace and mercy.

Scripture tells me, and I believe it with all my heart, that He loved me first, flaws and all, never demanding that I change—yet changing me by His love, transforming me by His presence, creating a new heart in me by His grace. So, if I love my Father in heaven like I love Kelly, I should want to please Him, obey Him, honor Him in all I do. After all, I’m in a relationship with Him that is as tangible, perhaps even more so, as my relationship with my sweet wife.

However, it’s not a one-sided, I-get-all-the-benefits arrangement. His love for me must be returned if the relationship is to be authentic. So, I long to show I love Him by obeying Him—and loving others the way He loves me. I’m not always very good at this, but it is where my heart’s desire is, to love Him above all else.

The same is true of us as a congregation. We can only love each other if we love Him above all else. I think this is what blesses me most about WBF. As a congregation, we are much like Kelly and me, flawed, imperfect human beings trying to forge meaningful relationships with God and with each other, at times doing marvelously well, at others stumbling but always doing the best we can to love Him first. I pray that we can all learn the lesson that God’s grace shines most gloriously in His love for us, not in our perfection--but in our flaws.

The beans will be done in another hour. We’ll have a great meal then move on to other recipes and activities. You and I, as believers in Christ, are still being tenderly, lovingly crafted and prepared for eternity when we will join Him at that great banquet table. For now, we sit, not as inert vegetables on the stove, but as vital tools of testimony in His Son. We’re being occasionally stirred, being seasoned, refined, reduced and perfected until He determines we’re done and ready to be in His presence. His hand and His watchful eye are upon us every step of the way, never leaving us too long on the burner, never taking us off the flame too soon, never neglecting us, always preparing us to put His glory on display here on earth and to bask in His glory in heaven.

You see? There’s hope for us all. There’s hope for those who are flawed. There’s even hope for those who see only the flaws in others but not themselves. God is not yet finished with any of us. We all need work. We all need to be on the fire from time to time, stirred and seasoned. We all need His hand upon us. He’s not just a chef, He’s our creator, and He has our perfection in mind and in hand. He’s patient, and kind, yet firm and sovereignly determined to have His way. He loves us enough to finish what He started in us. He’s not just our hope, He’s our perfect, loving Father.