A Metaphor for Relationship

 

If there's one thing that Education for Ministry (EfM) has given me is a whole fountain of new things to reflect on. EfM is usually a four-year course, but I'm in my fourteenth year with it and still learning new things and acquiring new points to consider.

I had to attend a yearly training seminar like I do every year. It keeps me accredited as a mentor for my group and also gives me an opportunity for new experiences. If I find I'm not good with something, I can ask that we cover it in the seminar, and I can learn to do better. If I'm reasonably strong on something, I can share my experience and knowledge with others to help them later in their own journey as mentors.

I attended a training seminar last month, and, like every year, my batteries got recharged, just as my brain got filled with new ideas and techniques. I gained new insights that hopefully will serve my group well. I also came back with new things to reflect on later to gain insights I could apply to my life as a mentor and as a Christian.

Like many of them, a simple question opened the group to personal reflection and sharing. We were asked to answer the question, "What kitchen gadget represents your relationship with God?" It sounds a bit goofy, taken out of context. Still, it is a kind of question we use as a check-in on our group members, giving them a chance to respond and incorporate how their past week has gone. Some answers are amusing, some painful to hear, others uplifting, but all are insights that can start any one of us on a meditational journey of our own sometime later.

It's funny, but simple questions are often the hardest to answer. I don't remember how I answered that one when it was raised in one of our sessions, but it's come back for a second round of meditation and seeking. My first thought is that I would be a spatula, always turning things over to find out where I am and where I am going in my relationship with God. I could also be a whisk or hand mixer combining various ingredients into a unified whole before adding to something else to make a cake, an omelet, a sauce for a stirfry, or a milkshake. God comes in as a recipe to follow to produce a product to give me pleasure, delight, or sustenance or to give to others as a sign of love, comfort, or simply for the joy of giving.

There are so many other ways I could answer. I could be a paper towel to clean up a mess I made before God knocks on my door for a visit or a bundt cake pan I love because of the design it gives to the baked cake. Maybe I am a strainer that separates something unwanted from what needs to be kept, with God deciding which is which. There seems to be no end to what I could be or opportunities to ask myself the question later.

One conclusion I could draw is that I want to please God and to love, support, and comfort my neighbor, just as Jesus directed. Another is that even if I make a mistake or a mess, God forgives me for it and helps me clean it up, with no loss of love from God. 

I love questions like this that actually make me think about something important – my relationship with God. It can also change if I pursue the insights using a different ordinary thing, feeling, or situation. It is a mental and spiritual exercise, each being important in its own realm.

What kitchen gadget would represent your relationship with God? Give it a try. Your mind might serve up some interesting thoughts for you to ponder.

Originally published on Episcopal Café as part of Episcopal Journal, Saturday, November 12, 2022.