Fathers, if they’re good fathers, often enjoy playing games
with their kids, don’t they? It makes for time together, and it often
strengthens the kids, physically, mentally and other ways, and it helps them
grow and mature appropriately.
For the past several days, I’ve been waking up haunted by a
strange phrase, a foreign phrase, in my mind. It’s not the first time I’ve
woken up with words from another language in my mind; that’s one of the games
that Father plays with me, kind of like hide and seek.
This time it was the term “mise en place.” I don’t recall
ever hearing the term before, but suddenly, I’ve caught myself muttering “mise
en place” under my breath a hundred times a day. I had to look it up.
It turns out that this is a French culinary phrase
(pronounced “mi zɑ̃ ˈplas.”)
which means “putting in place” or “everything in its place,” and it describes
getting all the ingredients ready for what you’re going to cook (apparently assuming
that you’re cooking in the kitchen of a French restaurant).
It often appears as a cart or a counter, completely covered
with bowls or containers full of chopped, sliced or julienned ingredients for
the chef in their cooking, and another set for the team making the plates look
pretty before serving the guests. Even the bartender has their own “mise en
place.”
It turns out that a high end restaurant will have a “mise en
place” for their “front of house” as well: All the tables set “just so,” with
the right plates, right glasses and silverware, even the flowers, lighting and
decorations exactly as they want them, before the doors ever open to receive
their guests for the service. Interesting thought.
In all these cases, the preparation of the “mise en place”
is a team effort. Several cooks are cutting and chopping ingredients, several
members of the service staff are setting out tablecloths and laying out the
silver and the china. Bartenders are preparing syrups, setting out bottles,
making sure the various glassware is within reach.
Since the phrase continues to rattle around in my mind, I’ve
been meditating on it for some days: What is God hinting about here? I’ve been
pressing into his heart to hear more: What is this treasure that he’s hiding
for me to discover in this?
As I reflect on the phrase, I sense God’s Spirit resting on
a couple of differing thoughts. I wonder if he’s whispering similar things to
you?
• I sense Father encouraging me to get my ducks in the row,
to get the details of what we’ve discussed into place in my life. There are
some preparations that yet need to be made before I’m actually ready for what
he’s bringing to me. If he begins cooking the meal he has in mind for me before
the mise en place is ready, he’ll need to stop and prepare ingredients, or
worse, serve the meal without some key ingredients.
• I also sense him whispering that, even with all the drama
in the news, he does have his own ducks lined up: his mise en place is set up
and ready to go. His house is ready for guests, and his place in his “front of
house” – on the Earth in this case – is similarly ready. Everything is in its
place for the next big event. (Side note: a goodly number of people have been
involved in this chopping and slicing, in placing the forks and cups “just so”
in preparation to receive his guests.)
• I’m reminded that “everything” is a big word. In other
recent Easter-egg hunts, he’s been emphasizing “mille,” “thousands” to me:
there are a LOT of details that he’s got ready for his plans.
“Don’t
under-estimate me, Son.”
