Thursday, August 5, 2010

A Woman's Special Domain



The Kitchen: A Woman's Special Domain

While the home is a woman's greatest sphere of influence, the kitchen is her special area of dominion. It's here she specializes in hospitality, homemaker, and chef. This is the place that makes home a home with laughter around the table, little hands shaping cookie dough, and the floating aroma of freshly baked apple pies on a Saturday morning. Home just wouldn't be home without entering to see mother busy in the kitchen. Not only is this place the heart of her touch, but is her area of influence where she serves others her best.

The kitchen is a woman's ministry and where a keeper at home spends much of her time. While cooking for a husband and children might seem inglorious to some, this is a way a wife serves. It is most selfless when she rises before the rest to cook breakfast or bakes through the evening when she's exhausted from the day's work. And who doesn't appreciate when she thinks of the ones she loves and surprises them with a tasty treat? As she makes sure her family is well-fed (and on time!) she is serving them in a loving, and practical way.

With the joy of cooking and baking comes also the challenge of creating dishes that are both nutritious and savory. Being a wise steward of her money and taking care of God's temple is a challenge but possible with much effort. A wise woman will take on this task to ensure that her family is healthy and her husband's money goes a long way. As she fills her cabinets with her nutritious finds (Prov. 31:14), it is yet another way she serves her family and ministers for her Lord. Frugality in the kitchen is an art and a priceless asset to the home and family.

The kitchen is also a woman's headquarters for ministry and reaching out to other people around her. Whether it's a loaf of homemade bread to a hurting friend, a family over for dinner, a meal for a new mother, or counseling over a cup of tea---there's so much a woman can do for the glory of God in this corner of her home. The place where meals are made, hospitality thrives, and guest are able to feel at home. Whoever enters her doors, a woman has a glorious opportunity to encourage, disciple, counsel, and evangelize in the midst of her home and kitchen. This is one of her best areas of service and if she understands this, there's much she can do to touch other's lives.

Finally, the kitchen can be a center of family fellowship. Being not only the place where a woman creates and serves, the kitchen is also a daily meeting spot where she can enjoy her family and connect in a special way. The family table is the heart of fellowship, discussion, catching-up, camaraderie, family devotions, and friendship. At this one spot the family can daily unite and enjoy each other's presence and Mom's wonderful meals. But sharing memories is not just limited to the table; Preparing a meal with the children, conversations over cleaning dishes, or baking cookies with tiny tots are also times to share and bond and are special parts of family fellowship.

Whether she realizes it or not, a woman has a wonderful area of ministry in front of her. A woman of wisdom will look past the "seemingly simplicity" of her kitchen and will embrace the opportunities that are to be discovered. She will enjoy her femininity and the area that God gave her to serve others and will use it for the glory of God.

Because whether she is preparing a meal or sweeping the floor,
she's ultimately serving Him
and to a woman who fears the Lord (Prov. 31:30)
that's what truly matters.



--By Miss Brooke at Overflowing Thoughts



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