Hostess with the Mostest

When Sandwiches Don’t Feel Suitable

Have you ever hosted a meal at your home? Maybe you held a back yard barbecue to accompany your child’s birthday party or you cooked a brunch for your extended family when they visited town. Have you ever been nearing the planned event and begin feeling a bit overwhelmed? You aren’t quite as prepared as you’d like to be, but you already invited everyone last week and it’s too late to cancel so the show must go on?

I’m not even going to lie to you guys.. I have honestly felt like an unprepared hostess all week this week. I have strained and struggled to write something, heck, anything! I have about 37 half cooked biblical truths simmering on the back burners of my perverbial creative stove as we speak. But nothing feels “ready to serve”, which- if you know me personally- is quite consistent. I come from a large Italian family, so not only do I love cooking for people, I always cook too much! If I say the food will be ready at 12:30pm… I’ll probably decide last minute to double my recipe and add two more side dishes which obviously extends the cook time. But hey, you’ll get to eat around 2pm AND take home leftovers! Oiy! Why am I like this?

When I set out on this Substack journey I asked God to breathe life into each piece, to use me as a vessel, to not allow me to write anything He hadn’t inspired, and to dismantle any ideas that weren’t aligned with His word. That is truly the cry of my heart, to only write what He wants me to say. But, somewhere along the way I narrowed my view of the type of meals God serves. Essentially, I wanted to produce home cooked meals each week, not just sandwiches or finger foods. After all, if I was going to invite you all here and ask you to carve out time, how dare I hand you chips and dip when you came for lasagna and chicken parmigiana.

I will say, so far it has been a pretty fun adventure. I’ve gotten into the kitchen along side the Master Chef as we’ve whipped up some creative portraits of biblical narrative and truth. The thing about cooking homemade meals with a professional chef is that you get to watch them show off their incredible talent with ease and grace. They simultaneously create multiple culinary masterpieces with the ingredients provided. Each dish is perfectly timed to be ready to serve together. Watching them work teaches and inspires all at the same time.

So it is with writing; while trying to write along side God, I’ve learned something about His character each week. He has both taught and inspired me every step of the way. But writing with Jesus and about biblical truth isn’t as easy as simply writing down my ideas and stories. There’s a lot of work, study, and hard earned lessons that produce each essay. I’m honored to write each piece and I feel a sense of responsibility to be a good hostess and co-chef. After all, it takes preparation AND inspiration. Hard work AND Holy Spirit. All bountiful harvests require both the farmer AND the rain. I don’t want to invite you all over and merely have chips and dip for you to munch on. So here I am- apron on and ingredients spread all over the counter- showing up and expecting Master Chef to meet me. Or wait, am I expecting Him to help me prepare a full course meal? Am I only satisfied with His culinary skills if I have a beautiful spread to present my guests after our time in the kitchen? Am I perhaps lacking some perspective in this whole “hostess with the mostest” venture.

Circling back to my previous statement about my narrow minded assumption of our Lord’s permissible pantry supplies. I guess I decided He wasn’t a sandwich type of God. That if He was going to use my words they had to be full course meal material. How pharisee-minded of me, right? To think that God needed a specific type of spread to feed people. I mean, hello- five loaves and two fish - ring a bell, Charis? Geesh.

This week I stopped to notice how many times I’ve stood alone in the kitchen of not just my writing but my life with all my prime ingredients laid out on the counter. Apron on, cook book open, waiting for the Master chef to come help me use all these beautiful choice ingredients I set out. I remained sure that He was going to come assist me in preparing food for all the guests waiting outside. Meanwhile, He had grabbed the lunch meat, sliced cheese, a loaf of bread, chips and dip, paper plates and headed to the back porch. He was already outside munching, laughing, and playing kickball with all our guests while I sat in the kitchen perplexed and anxious because I didn’t have anything “good enough” prepared.

I wonder how often I’ve missed quality time with others and with God because I’ve been stuck in the kitchen trying to prepare a full homemade meal. How many opportunities have I turned down because I only had sandwiches to offer and felt that wasn’t enough? How many friendships have I forfeited due to insecurity? How many life changing experiences have I opted out of because I didn’t have time to prepare “enough”. What does “enough” even mean in the vocabulary of God’s children? Have you ever spent time agonizing to prepare for something, only to feel more anxious and overwhelmed afterwards? Have you been in that place where you want so desperately to be or have “enough” that you spend your entire event in the kitchen? I have. And if I’m honest, I still do most of the time.

I remember disliking the story of Martha and Mary as a young girl. I grew up surrounded by Martha’s. Martha kept the household fed, the bills paid on time, the house clean, and the calendar updated. She never forgot to send snacks to school and got everyone to practice and games on time. She seemed like the type of woman God and people could depend on. I liked that. So why then, did Jesus say that her anxiousness and worry were pointless? Why did He say that her sister, Mary, who sat around all day had chosen correctly? Didn’t He see how hard she was working FOR HIM? Didn’t He notice that the meals prepared, the warm blankets everyone was wrapped in, the clean floor and furniture everyone sat on were all available because SHE had prepared it all FOR HIM?

Martha was so busy preparing FOR Jesus and the people that she forgot she was created to be WITH Him. She forgot that her life was not meant to be a dance performance FOR the King. It was supposed to be a slow, personal, and beautiful waltz around the ballroom WITH Him. She was so busy trying to perform, she was missing her chance to be transformed. She was so worried about being presentable that she was missing the gift of His presence.

It’s not that our God doesn’t want to cook full homemade meals with us. In fact, I think He rather enjoys taking deep dives into biblical narratives and helping us produce masterpieces of creative expression. No, the fault isn’t in wanting to produce a beautiful spread for people to enjoy. The issue arises when we subconsciously decide that the only food God deems worthy to serve is meals that were slaved over and difficult to prepare. The ingredients don’t matter. The time spent cooking does not matter. The amount of preparation and money spent does not even matter. The only thing that truly matters, ever, is His presence in the kitchen and His contribution to the meal.

So today, I don’t have a full homemade meal to offer you. I haven’t slaved preparing a lasagna or chicken parmigiana with a side of ravioli, caprese salad and fresh bread. No, I come simply bearing sandwiches. And hopefully, giving you the permission to serve sandwiches as well. Because the truth is.. sandwiches made with the Master Chef are more satisfying than a full Italian meal made without Him. You don’t have to slave in the kitchen, friends. He just wants you to invite Him into the process. He just wants to be present with you. You may desire to use a variety of delicious ingredients but “only one thing is necessary”, Him.

So take this as permission to take off the apron, join Him outside, and trust that sandwiches, chips, and dip are more than enough. You might be surprised by how delightful that simple meal really turns out to be. I bet next time you host Sunday dinner everyone will request chips and queso again. And guess what, you’ll have to get His help to make it. Because we can’t produce anything worth serving without Him. No matter how grand or simple. He is the only ingredient that matters. So I pray we live this week sitting at His feet like Mary. Let’s dance WITH him instead of FOR Him. And let’s be okay with serving sandwiches, as long as He helped us prepare them.

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.””

Luke 10:38-42 ESV