(MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking. Pans are prepared. Mixing bowls, tools and equipment set out.

The other day at work I was talking to one of our therapists and said how exciting it was whenever someone new joined the staff. I said it felt like a missing piece finally arrived that was always supposed to be there. I felt this way when each of my children were born. It’s a feeling of familiarity crossed with completion and comfort. I was trying to explain how it felt and he nodded in agreement and responded “Mis en place.”

Stepping Stone Like Spices

While recently working with a friend on her children’s book (I am illustrating for her,) I was asking her if a certain element in one of the illustrations should be included or if I should remove it because it reminded her of a difficult time in her life. “No you can leave it in the picture,” she said, “it was one of the stepping stones to me becoming me. It belongs there.” I loved this response.

Trimming the Fat, or a Fine Dice

I marvel as God wastes nothing in our struggles. As we reflect on what we have overcome (God has overcome through us) and the grace which was there–even if we didn’t always know to ask or call upon it–there was something we got out of even the worst situations. Scripture reminds us that we will need to be pruned at times.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:2

When a chef prepares ingredients, he will trim fat off of certain cuts of meat, tear leaves of herbs from stems, or give an aromatic a fine dice. All of this is so the best ingredients are part of the dish.

Think back on your life on a moment that was awful and what happened to change it. Does it hold any value for you?

What did you glean?

What did you learn about yourself?

What is something that you have now that you would not have if that situation hadn’t happened?

These trims and dices in our lives created the finer cut and better version of ourselves today.

It’s too easy to look at struggles and tragedies and feel sorry for ourselves and feel like victims. We are not victims. We are overcomers.

Each part of my life has become an ingredient to the creation which God is always at working, preparing, putting in place like a chef with the “mis en place” preparation for a beautiful dish. I am coming together, bit by bit, one ingredient at a time. He is preparing the way.

Remember and reflect on what you have been through often–the people, the relationships, the struggles and the joys–count them all. The most bitter of ingredients, a splash of balsamic vinegar, cream of tartar, lemon juice…these create the greatest depth in a dish. We can be a good sous chef and help taste along the way the beautiful work that God is forming in us.