My Mom's Kitchen

Acts 1:1–11

Phrases that spoke to me today:
• a cloud took him from their sight
• "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
• "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth"
• "Why do you stand looking into heaven?"

Applying the Word to My Life:
My first birthday photos have me in a cast.

My mother was getting ready for my first birthday party. She had me up on the counter, letting me stir something in a bowl — just something to keep me involved. I managed to slip and fall and broke my arm. In the birthday photos, there I am: one year old, cast and all.

She didn't have me up there because she needed the help. She was putting together a birthday party — she was more than capable of handling the batter herself. She had me up there because that is what parents do. You bring them into what you are making. You let them stir the bowl even when it would be easier to go alone, even when they might slip.

Luke picks up right where his Gospel left off. Jesus has spent forty days with the disciples after the resurrection — appearing to them, eating with them, talking about the kingdom of God. He tells them to wait in Jerusalem, that the Holy Spirit is coming. And then He is lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

But before He goes, they ask Him a question. Of all the things they could have asked — where are you going, will we see you again, what do we do now — the question they land on is this: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Nobody in that courtyard had any doubt who He was. They had watched Him die. They had watched Him come back. They had eaten breakfast on the beach with Him. Their faith was about as solid as faith gets. And I think that is exactly why they asked that question. When you are absolutely sure about God, it is easy to start waiting for Him to handle things. You believe. You're in. Now — when does He take care of the rest?

That is where the lesson from my ill-fated debut as a baker comes back to me. My mother had me on that counter not because one-year-olds are useful sous chefs. She had me there because she wanted me with her, part of what she was making. That is a different thing entirely. This is the same message God has been telling us since the Creation — but loudest in the Incarnation. God does not become one of us because He needed better tools. He does not want dolls He can position or instruments He can wind up and set running. He wants children He can bring into the kitchen.

Jesus invites them directly into God's kitchen: "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And then He is gone.

They stand there staring long enough that two men in white appear and ask them why.

"Why do you stand looking into heaven?"

I love that question. There is no frustration in it — just a kind of gentle nudging, the way someone might nudge you when you are frozen at the edge of something you are actually ready for. He is coming back, the same way He went. But the sky is not where the work is. The work is Jerusalem. Judea. Samaria. Places where people are.

The disciples asked when He was going to do something.

The angels asked why they were still standing there.

My mother did not stop putting me on that counter because I fell. I like baking and have taught my sons, but I'm not thrilled about heights. The cast in those photos is not evidence that the instinct was wrong. It is just what participation looks like sometimes — a little messy, a little risky, but held the whole time.

It is easy to stand around asking God to just "do something." Turns out He already did. He made you.

My Response for Today:
Today I will name one place where I have been waiting for God to act — and ask whether He has already given me what I need to move.