Bacon and eggs

One of my favorite characterizations of God comes from The Shack by William P. Young. It’s a novel with a provocative story that evoked criticism from varied arenas upon its debut in 2007. I love it. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard it would be made into a movie.
My favorite scene shows the protagonist walking into the room expecting to see God and becoming mesmerized by the sight of a rather rotund Black woman cooking bacon and eggs. I was not only thrilled but delighted at the thought of God being a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman of a certain age, Black woman of a certain size… In other words a Black woman much like myself cooking my favorite breakfast. Bacon and eggs. I could smell it. I could hear the sizzle of the bacon.

I could even hear as God affectionately called Mac by his whole name to capture his full attention as our mothers and grandmothers did.

It’s fanciful and some would even say foolish to portray God in any fashion contained by our imaginations. As if indeed He could be. I won’t give away any more of the story. It’s worthy of your attention.
But that scene, which I’ve revisited more times than I can count, is a reminder to me of how closely God dwells in us, with us, all around us… comes to see about us in response to our hearts’ cries. How near he is and so often we miss him. We miss God’s aroma. We miss his call to us. We miss the ministering God offers directly to us… One on one…eggs and bacon…coffee and sweet bread…quiche and cucumber salad. Whatever will touch us in the deepest places of our being…whatever will welcome us home and seat us in heavenly places right here on earth.