One of the things I like about cooking is that it takes a certain time. There are periods when you have to wait for things to be cooked, or cooled, or to ‘rest’. Yesterday, with all the pastry disasters there was a lot of waiting around. About every six weeks we do a meal for homeless and disadvantaged people. The people working in the kitchen turn up at about 11am and chop vegetables and get things ready. Then there is a ‘lull’ while we stand around chatting. As I’m the team leader I always feel a bit guilty about this as I think everyone wants to be and useful all the time. But its just the way food preparation works, especially when you are cooking for a lot of people. Then we serve it out and every one is busy.

The picture today is in our ‘conservatory’ which is very rough and ready as you can see. There is a large bougainvillea plant in there. The winter has been very long, wet and dark here (although not as cold as in the US or Canada) and I was beginning to think this plant had given up. But yesterday I noticed all of these new shoots. In a month or so they will be bright pink. One of the things we are loosing in our modern society is learning to wait.

I’m preparing a bible study for next week and one of the passages is John 15: 5-8. He talks about being part of his Vine. We have a vine outside and it looks dead. But it isn’t. Just waiting.