Smoke in the Kitchen
1 Peter 4:8 — Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Are you a pumpkin spice and everything nice kind of person?
I’ll admit it.
I am.
But it’s not the lattes for me.
When it comes to pumpkin, I’m more like the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
Pumpkin bread.
Pumpkin cookies.
Pumpkin muffins.
If there’s a recipe that pumpkin can go in, I’m liable to try it.
So when I invited some friends over, I decided I was going to make one of my famous pumpkin pies.
And y’all, I had the whole thing planned.
Good food.
Good company.
A beautiful pie coming out of the oven.
Except there was one little problem.
I forgot about the pie.
We got to talking, laughing, and catching up on life, and before long, I started to smell…
Burnt crust.
That pie had gone from pumpkin spice to charcoal.
I was so embarrassed.
But do you know what?
My friends didn’t care.
They laughed about it and told me that none of them needed a perfect pie.
They came because they wanted to spend time with me.
And that put me in tears.
Because I put so much pressure on myself to say the right thing, serve the right food, and make all the right impressions.
Meanwhile, the people I love were just grateful to be standing in my kitchen…
Smoke and all.
And maybe that’s what good friends do.
They don’t make your mistakes bigger than they are.
They don’t let one failure overshadow the whole evening.
They give you grace.
They just love you.
And that makes me think about 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
That kind of love doesn’t mean pretending mistakes don’t matter.
It means we don’t keep score.
We don’t hold every failure over someone’s head.
We make room for grace.
And I think we all need a little more love like that this fall.
Maybe we could give ourselves—and each other—a little more room for imperfect moments.
So burn the pie.
Say the wrong thing.
Forget something important.
Get pumpkin everywhere, if you will.
And then…
love people well.
Because when love is around the table, there’s room for grace, too.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
- Where do you put pressure on yourself to be perfect instead of simply being present with the people you love?
- Who is someone who has given you grace when you messed up? What did their response mean to you?
- Is there someone whose mistakes you may be holding onto a little too tightly? What would it look like to give them more grace?
- What would change in your relationships if you stopped keeping score of every offense and chose to love people more earnestly?
- Where do you need to receive grace for yourself instead of continuing to punish yourself for something that went wrong?
QUESTION TO CARRY WITH YOU TODAY
Where can I choose grace today instead of keeping score?
