When I get a few moments with my thoughts it is like the rise of a hot air balloon on a sunny day. The upward lift is slow and gentle as I drift away into the welcoming airspace and allow my mind to move along with the wind currents.

This day my mind is recalling a fond memory as I travel back in time to an experience we had this past summer.

Allow me to explain.

Like it or not, we live in an on demand world. Whatever it might be, we want it and we want it now!

Our mode of operation is to wait for nothing and no one.

We record movies to watch when we so choose to view on our smart TV’s, phones, or other devices. Whatever the content, it is at our beckon call with a few clicks.

When it comes to meal choices they follow suit.

Our food selections are ordered from apps, then cooked and delivered to our specifications. If something goes awry with the order or the delivery is late according to the self-determined schedule, we get our noses out of joint.

Many of us order online and pick up our meals via feeding bags promoting the drive through restaurant and whatever is stuffed into their paper bag table settings.

Taking it up a notch, we are duped into thinking that high end meal preparation kits shipped to our homes allow us to spend time cooking a custom meal and forming family togetherness.

All the while they are designed for convenience and busy schedules. It is as close to farm-to table and wild caught that most of us get. It’s hard for me to swallow the farm-to-table feel with something emerging from a box.

We can ask the question, “What’s cooking?”

However, the answer is a few shades of gray from the real answer, nothing!

Nothing is cooking!

While visiting our daughter and family in England this past summer, the day after we arrived our equilibrium was thrown off in a very good way.

Jessica and Jeff surprised us with the announcement and invitation to join them and their family on a 10 day trip to Italy.

I am not into bucket lists per se. However, visiting Italy has been an unspoken desire deep within my heart for a long time.

Tears welled up in my eyes and a facial river flowed at the announcement of this wonderful surprise. Quite honestly, I had a hard time breathing.

The itinerary took as to Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Pisa, and finally Milan.

It was a wonderful whirlwind while living out of a backpack and enduring the highest temperatures ever recorded in Italy for the duration of our trip. We boarded planes, trains, buses, taxis, and private transport.

We visited ancient ruins, the Coliseum (where I got to experience the joys of a pick pocket and having my wallet lifted), wine country, historic church buildings, and so much more.

We ate real Italian food from real Italian restaurants and it was off the charts good!

We watched our grandchildren play and eat gelato almost every night.

We toured idyllic bays, jumped off a chartered boat, and cooled off in the aqua blue waters. We did whatever we felt like doing.

Of the many memorable memories created with our family, the highlight for me was when we visited the Amalfi Heaven Gardens and experienced an outdoor, farm-to-table, authentic Italian cooking class.

It more than answered the question, “What’s cooking?” and in a word it was MAGNIFICO!

We walked the tiered gardens while overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy, specifically the Amalfi Coast.

In short, the view was breathtaking.

We picked zucchini, zucchini flowers, tomatoes, lemons, lemon leaves, peppers, and onions.

Peach wine flowed freely and was deliciously delicate.

We chopped, diced, peeled, stuffed, mashed, kneaded, rolled, cut, and prepared a culinary outdoor banquet fit for a King and Queen.

The menu consisted of freshly made bruschetta on homemade bread drizzled with olive oil, fried ricotta-filled zucchini flowers, Caponata salad (various peppers, olives, basil, onions, celery mixed with olive oil), smoked mozzarella slices grilled on lemon leaves, and finally gnocchi alla siciliana.

Everything inside of me wanted to shout Mama Mia!

This meal, prepared with along with several other guests, was not done on demand.

It was not instant and it did not come out of a box.

From beginning to end it could be described as skilled and loving preparation.

An intentional process orchestrated by our host, Silvio and his head chef, Mama Rosetta, was deliberately slowed down.

We took our time.

We learned what needed to be done.

We interacted with each other and with others.

We conversed as we prepared this table of love.

We ate, drank, and were assuredly merry for all the right reasons.

Noticing my skill with the gnocchi, Mama Rosetta uttered the word, perfecto, acknowledging my culinary creation.

As I write this short account of a wonderful memory, tears are welling up inside of me as it was truly an unforgettable, memorable, and wonderful time with my family.

I see the smiles on my grandkids faces, the I-am-taking-it-all-in look on Jackie’s face,

and the shared love between my daughter Jessica, and our son-in-law, Jeff.

As I continue to remember this awesome experience, a few thoughts come to mind.

Going back to the on demand life we typically embrace, I am reminded God is not in a hurry, with anything.

We lean toward changes in our lives which might be needed and we often try to force the issue and short circuit the impact of change by somehow believing it will happen in an instant and on our schedule.

The smile etched in the sky by the clouds is God’s fatherly chuckle on display telling us He has other (and much better) plans for our good.

“And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose..” Romans 8:28 (NLT)

Much like the very deliberate and intentional Italian meal preparation, God’s answer to the What’s Cooking question is a process that might last days, weeks, months, and years.

We know the Israelites left the grips of Egypt and the journey was believed to be an eleven day event. It took 40 years to complete as they may have been removed from Egypt, but Egypt was still inside of them.

In my own life, what I thought would take a short time period to happen in many ways has taken a lifetime.

God will set the stage so that what He wants to effect in our lives will occur and most likely will not occur as we might envision it.

Every now and then a tune enters my noggin, as it did today.

The lyrics below are familiar and I learned the song is called The 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel.

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobblestones.
Looking for fun and feeling groovy.

It is a call to ease the pace. I have learned over the years that God does not cook with a microwave and His best cooking comes by way of a crockpot.

Much like the exquisite banquet table placed before me this past summer, the Father’s plans for our lives are revealed in time through much preparation and may including some slicing and dicing and mashing to bring about the intended result.

After all, He is the Master Chef and we are His work of art. He forms us for His purposes and will use us where our preparation meets a need in the life of another.

His preparation is for our benefit and for an ultimate good. I will leave you with this:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6 NLT

I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]. Philippians 1:6 AMP