If I was a tad emotional over my washer...

(see "Memories In the Washer") ...you can only imagine how I feel about the recent demise of my range.

It was 18 years ago.  My husband and I were purchasing our very first home.  I was 20.  Crazy, huh?

I remember strolling the aisles at the appliance store, the realization that I was an adult finally hitting me smack-dab in the face.  We picked out an oven and a refrigerator that day.  And shortly later they were delivered to our new home. 

I was young.  While I was adequate as a cook, my love for it had not yet been realized.  I stuck to the somewhat familiar.  I poured over my limited supply of cookbooks looking for inspiration.  Timidly at first, I began inviting people to our home for dinner.  As I stood before that range...as I cooked for my handsome husband...experimented with new recipes...invited in guests...prepared food for my babies...something in me began to take root and grow. 

I look at my 18-year-old range which now stands idly in my kitchen.  There are so many memories in that one simple appliance:

• Family dinners enjoyed. 
• Romantic dinners for two created.
• Cookies baked with little helpers.
• Soup prepared for sick friends.
• Holiday meals and memories made.
• Scones and muffins shared with friends. 
• Items burned.
• Events catered. 
• Meals shared. 

You see, in a sense, I grew up with my range.  God revealed to me a whole lot about myself as I stirred and sauteed and boiled.  He gave me a vision of what He wanted my life to be about.  It's a vision that I have never, not for one second, regretted.  He gave me a passion...a love...a realization that the recipes created in my kitchen were about much more than food.  They were about nourishing souls...providing security...establishing traditions.  They were about bringing people together and, prayerfully, being a picture of Christ to others in the ways that I love and give.

And that's why, on this day, I'm feeling a whole big mix of emotions.  But even as I look back with joy and thankfulness and a bit of wistfulness, I joyfully and confidently look ahead to the continued lessons, the continued growth, and the continued memories which will continue to flow from my kitchen by God's grace.