Licking the Bowl

Thy kingdom come. That’s what co-creation with our Maker is all about, the coming of the kingdom. Our calling, our vocation in all we do and are to try to do is to help in the furthering of the coming of the kingdom—a kingdom we do not know and cannot completely understand. We are given enough foretastes of the kingdom to have a reasonable expectation. Being a loved and loving part of the body; praying together; singing together; forgiving and accepting forgiveness; eating together the good fruits of the earth; holding hands around the table as these fruits are blessed, in spontaneous joy and love, all these are foretastes.
—Madeleine L’Engle, Herself, 144.

When I bake cookies, I lick the bowl. Sometimes I’m generous and let someone else lick it. Either way, there’s a foretaste—in the cool batter on the tongue, the crunchy granulation of sugar, the smooth roundness of butter and flour together, the stray chocolate chip—of what the batch will taste like when it’s baked.

In the act of creation, whether in the kitchen, at the office, or in the studio, we get glimpses of what will be. God, I believe, gets glimpses of the future, too, in us. We’re works in progress. But what makes us so spectacularly different and wonderful is that we have a role in our own creation. We’re co-creators of our life, along with God.

That’s something the cookies can’t do. They can’t change their own ingredients or proportions. They can’t bake themselves. We, on the other hand, can determine what sort of people we become. There’s a physical dimension—we are what we eat, after all, and we can shape our bodies to some extent by exercise and healthy habits. There’s a moral dimension—we become how we behave. Aristotle was right. There’s also a spiritual dimension—we shape our relationship with God and one another through prayer, study, ritual, liturgy, confession and forgiveness, and various spiritual disciplines.

When we work together with God in the kingdom’s kitchens, we both get to lick the bowl. We each get a holy foretaste of what our lives will be like. We have the ability to add a little sugar, a little salt, or a few more chocolate chips. Co-create your life today. Taste the batch in the mixer. And let the kingdom come.

Along the Way, I wish you God’s peace on today’s stage of your Lenten spiritual journey. May Christ’s companionship bless you with confidence for the day, comfort you in trouble, and put a spring of joy in your step.