There are several activities in my life where time stops. Sailing and motorcycles on a road with sweeping curves are ones. Cooking is, for me, another. There is something about being in the kitchen, letting ideas dance in your head, and getting on with the prep work that is magical. It can be a solo experience or with others, especially if others approach cooking with a similar vein of reverence and appreciation.
One of the keys to staging a meal on time is anticipating and planning out the prep work. At times it is not terribly complex, and yet, anytime I rush into the process I find myself thinking how much better things would be in I had taken a moment to consider and plan.
When there is a lot of prep work, sharing the load is fun within itself. Usually there is a bit of music in the background to the discussion of what, how, and why. The more informed everyone is, the higher the chance that things will come together according to the lead chef’s script. Even sharing who is on point can be fun. Experiences in Bronxville, San Francisco, Weesp, Singapore, and New York are memories I find myself going back to. Each validates the reason and approach of working with friends to contribute to a fun meal and conversation which always follows.
I often hear a Life whisper reminding me that the model which works in the kitchen extends out and into the rest of my life. Bringing together a team to accomplish a complex task is, in its own way, like having several in the kitchen before a big meal. Thinking through the approach and options to prepare a meal requires similar steps to consider priorities in the coming week.
In the lesson reveal, I discovered others, even Divinity, take a similar approach. “Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” (Psalm 139.16)
