What people are craving isn’t perfection. People aren’t longing to be impressed; they’re longing to feel like they’re home.

I just recently finished reading the book Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist with the incourage Bloom book club. I LOVED this book. As I’m sitting here trying to figure out what to write, I am actually struggling, because there is just too much to share. I have underlined countless times and written notes in the margins. It is a book filled with real life, relationships, recipes, and sharing Jesus’ love through it all. This book was really good for me and I would recommend it to anybody.

One of my big takeaways was the need to open my kitchen up to my guests. I usually tell them to feel right at home, but I usually mean go relax in the living room while I work in the kitchen. I even get offers of help from my guests, but no, I’m fine. I can handle this all by myself. I didn’t want to show any weakness. I didn’t want to show my mess in the kitchen and the dishes piled like a jenga tower.

As I read Bread and Wine, I saw that I need people. I’m not made to do this life on my own, even in my own kitchen. We build relationships through our messes, not by showing our “perfections”. My friends are not going to learn as much about me when I show my pristine house and they’re not going to want to share their messes.

God made it abundantly clear that this had to change, when he put me in another friends home. This friend didn’t want help either, she had everything under control. God helped me to see myself in her. How lonely it is being the only one in the kitchen, even if there’s barely room for two. He showed me how much more fun we could have tripping over each other, learning where the spices were kept, and making messes in the kitchen.

So, I’m trying to change. I’m trying to let people in. When someone offers to help, I find something for them to do. Not because it’s something I can’t do, but because it’s something they can do. They can do it with me and we can build community.

This is about a family, a tribe, a little band of people who walk through it all together, up close and in the mess, real time and unvarnished.

How have you built community in your kitchen?

If you haven’t read Bread and Wine, read it! Then read A Meal with Jesus, another great book about food, community, and Jesus.

Linking up with the Incourage Bloom book club Bread and Wine link-up.