Gather in the kitchen (Prayer Devotional for the week of March 3, 2013)

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One of my earliest memories is of sitting on the kitchen counter watching my mom cook. The kitchen has always been the main room in our house where people tend to congregate. Everyone comes to the kitchen to find food and drinks (or just to scan the fridge for no apparent reason). We take inventory of the groceries and add items to the seemingly endless shopping list. We practice adding and subtracting fractions while thumbing through cookbooks together. We learn and try and mess up … a lot. We talk about curious topics and even important issues while stirring a pot, chopping veggies or unloading the dishwasher. The kitchen is where life happens in our home.

Speaking of which, food is an important metaphor in the Bible, as well. Let’s look at Isaiah 55:1-6 and imagine being invited to linger a while in the Lord’s kitchen as Isaiah shares these five insights:

·    Come: When you are thirsty for more in life – for the kinds of things that money can’t buy – enter the Lord’s kitchen for a buffet spread of his compassion, peace and joy.
·    Listen: What’s the point in having a cookbook if you don’t follow the directions? God’s instructions are for your best interests, so perk up your ears to him.
·    Pay attention: Be mindful of how you feed your soul; there’s a lot of junk out there that is tempting to consume, but God’s Word is nourishing and fulfilling.
·    Seek: We can think of the kitchen as merely a place to prepare food, or we can look for opportunities to do life together. He’s waiting for you to climb up on the counter like a small child and spend time with him.
·    Pray: You are never underfoot in God’s kitchen. He wants you to talk to him about your day, your triumphs, your worries, your dreams.

The kitchen may be the focal point of our homes, but I think what Isaiah 55 is trying to remind us is that God wants to be the focal point of our hearts. Like a child foraging in the fridge, when we hunger and thirst for something that can’t be found in the cupboard, we should turn to him to satisfy our spirits.

As Jesus once said to a woman drawing water from a well: “’Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:13-14, ESV). Are you satisfied with what the world has to offer, or are you thirsty for more?

The 20%

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In class this week, we discussed the legislative branch of the Texas state government. We examined the formal qualifications to hold a post as either a Representative or Senator, and we also looked at the informal criteria, based on the demographics of the legislature.

There are several stereotypes, from education attainment to race/ethnicity, occupation and gender. For example, there are 31 women in the Texas House of Representatives and 6 in the Texas Senate, at present. Out of 181 seats available between the two chambers, that means roughly 1/5 of our state legislature is female. We’ve made a lot of strides since Edith Wilmans paved the way as the first woman elected to the state legislature in 1922, but ~20% is hardly representative of our population.

We discussed some of the reasons why this number remains so low, and here are some of our findings:

  • The legislature meets for 140 days every two years, so it is difficult for the average working adult, much less a mom (working outside the home or not) with traditional gender-role responsibilities, to up & go to Austin for four-and-a-half months (plus special sessions, if need be).
  • Texas state legislators earn $600/month, plus a per diem to help cover travel expenses while in Austin. The “pro” to offering such a low salary (more like a stipend, if you ask me) is that it fosters a sense of volunteerism; people don’t run for office because of the financial package. The obvious “con” is that no one can actually live on that salary, so most people who work for a living are unable to participate. (By the way, that salary was set in 1975 and hasn’t changed since.)

I think it was an eye-opening discussion for the students, but it’s also disconcerting. We hear a lot about needing better representation, but the system itself precludes many people (like me) who otherwise would be interested and are (if I may say so in all modesty) reasonably qualified for the job from serving in that capacity. Consequently, we end up with a legislature disproportionately comprised of white males (’tis true) who are lawyers and CEOs (because they can take time off of work), retirees and the independently wealthy (because they don’t have to work).

Furthermore, the [wo]man on the street is skeptical of the government because s/he doesn’t see her/himself represented in the group. We tell our kids that they can dream big and do or become anything they can imagine, and yet even in the 21st century amid unprecedented accomplishments everywhere we turn, we still have a leadership indicative of generations past.

*sigh. Don’t even get me started on higher education (where women lead 1/4 of universities and 1/3 of two-year schools) and church leadership …