For the past three years I have worked in the Hospitality Industry. Being a chef is an interesting job in which you help to create holiday experiences with food. Easters, Thanksgivings, Christmas’, Mother’s Days and even 4th of Julys…they all center around food. Think about what your family does for these holidays… Maybe Sunday brunch on Mother’s Day at the country club. Or the cinnamon rolls that your family expects every Christmas morning from your local bakery. For Thanksgiving last year i produced over 500 pieces of pie, cake, cookies, etc- to make sure that all 140 guests coming to lunch would find their favorite dessert on the buffet. What Thanksgiving meal isn’t complete without a piece of pumpkin pie…and pecan pie…and maybe half a slice of that apple pie, it is Thanksgiving after all 🙂 At the end of the day i am worn out, but I’m also so glad to have contributed to another successful holiday celebration! I certainly get my affirmation from knowing that no one was disappointed. The down side is that for the past three years, I have worked almost every major holiday, including one Christmas Day!! It just became my life in hospitality. It is what you sign up for the minute you enroll in culinary school and I eventually learned to not even pout about it anymore, but just take it in stride.
So when i was standing on the top of one of Thailand’s tallest mountains on Easter Sunday, it was a funny feeling. It suddenly occured to me that i didn’t have anywhere else to be. I wasn’t missing anything by choosing to go hiking that day. I
hadn’t had to fight to get the day off. Literally there was no where else that i needed to be in that moment….and i felt so free. In that moment I remembered one more thing to be thankful for this year. I was able to sit up there, guilt free and just be with God on the day we celebrate the resurection of His Son. Benny had prepared a message for the nine of us that were together and then we spent a good time in prayer for our fellow racers who are scattered across the country of Thailand. Needless to say, i took a long, deep breath of that mountain air, which was full of the scent of pines tree interstingly enough, sat in the warmth of the open skies, and just communed with my Creator.
As I think through the rest of the year, this feeling will come again a few more times. Most holidays i will not be with my family, which does sting a bit, but even the timing of this trip just serves to wrap up this blessing. In November we have been promised to be home by Thanksgiving! I will spend Thanksgiving at home for the first time in two years! And a month later i will most certainly spend Christmas on the couch in my parent’s living room while my Dad plays Santa, my mom brings me a fresh cup of coffee, I’ll laugh with my sister about how silly my brother is acting, catching a waft of those baking cinnamon rolls coming from the kitchen…and maybe i will remember to breath it in deep, knowing there is literally no where else i need…or want to be right in that moment.
Thank you God for the gift of rest this year. Even when it is hard to be away for so long, you remind me that i am exactly where you want me to be. Thank you for the lessons you are teaching me and thank you for reminding me of your love for me daily. I pray that i never miss a blessing you want to hand me, and i pray that i never forget to thank you for all that you have already given…
