As I child, I always loved visiting my grandmother. She was a woman who loved to cook and life centered around the bustling activity in her kitchen. But it wasn’t just the delicious results that I welcomed, it was the fact that she included me in the process.
She’d back a red chair up to the counter, tie on an apron she’d made that was just my size and let me help with the preparation. As I had my own family, I tried to do the same thing with them—with a lesser degree of success.
One of the things about bringing kids into the cooking process is the fact that it slows things way down. As adults, we’re so often pressed for time that letting our little ones help seems to make a hard job almost impossible.
However, we need to look at the example our Heavenly Father has set for us. He delights in including us in His work. Of course He could do it better, faster and more efficiently without us. But He loves working with His children.
When our oldest son enlisted in the military, I revived the process of including my kids. Even though my remaining two sons were in their early teens, we worked together to make goodies to send to their big brother. It was a wonderful bonding time, and it meant a great deal to a young service man so far from home. It also gave me the opportunity to be a living example of how God invites us to join Him in His work.
Since this is Bake for Family Fun Month, I recommend you give this custom a try. Here’s how to go about it:
1) Find the name of someone who’s in the military or perhaps a military family that lives in your community.
2) Bring the kids into the kitchen, let them help decide what to bake and then get to it.
3) Engage them in discussion of how God includes all of us in His work.
4) Pack up the goodies in a box (for mailing) or a pretty tin if the family is local.
Not only will you bless someone in the military, you’ll build precious memories with the little ones in your life.
