Cooking Up Faith: Soak in It to Soak It In

Nichole Berlucchi ponders how, like a steak must be pierced for marinade to penetrate, so the little cuts of life help us soak in God's truth.

Recently, we had friends over for dinner, and made this amazing flank steak recipe which we hadn’t had in a while. Thankfully, I had pulled out the recipe to check the ingredients needed in advance, because when I read through the recipe it said must marinate for at least 24 hours.

When I was assembling everything, the instructions were to take a knife and stab a diamond shape into both sides of the steak. Then, pour half the marinade in a dish, place the steak in it, and pour the other half on top. They really wanted this marinade to get into every part of the steak, for at least 24 hours; the steak clearly needed time and help to absorb the flavors the marinade had to offer.

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I’ve been revisiting my faith journey recently, looking back at some tough traits of mine that really blocked God from working in my life. The funny thing is just like for the steak, it was the cuts and jabs of life that allowed me to become open to letting God in. While I had this early life foundation in the faith, it wasn’t quite enough to unleash God fully in my life; it released some “flavor” but not the maximum amount of flavor needed. But once life circumstances cut deep into my heart, what was poured over me really soaked in.

This was particularly true of my identity. I had rooted myself in a performance-based identity, people-pleasing. I understood at a young age that my behavior especially performance-based behavior could influence how other people felt about me positively. But there came a point where my behavior wasn’t yielding the response I expected. I realized that many of my relationships were built on a certain amount of striving to get someone to like me based on what I did. My behavior began to yield resentment in those closest to me, in siblings and even in my spouse. They began to feel my “do good”-ing as a competition, and while I didn’t intend it that way, if my identity was performance-based, it’s not a stretch to see why an outsider would view it as me trying to outdo them in generosity, in loyalty, in attentiveness, and more.

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God invited me to soak in a new identity.

Saints like St. Thérèse of Lisieux showed me that there was nothing, literally nothing, I could do to earn God’s love, that Jesus had already earned me a place in eternity. I could not outperform Him. He would not be outdone. This littleness invited me to a new Truth. God would outperform me with others too—His generosity could not be out done towards any of my family members. If I couldn’t beat Him, I should join Him.

I should love with His love, be patient with His patience, rejoice with His joy, be compassionate with His compassion.

God poured this over me, letting me marinate in it. My heart was softening. It reminded me of soaking beans from their hard form into the soft but firm form to ready them for cooking. After they soak for a while, they need to be cleaned up.

After letting myself soak in this new truth, I went to Confession. I learned to confess the times when pride, narcissism and the like were creeping into my heart. I learned how to ready myself for the "main dish," going out into the world full of flavor, tender and full of God.

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Jesus had already earned me a place in eternity. I could not outperform Him. #CatholicMom

The key to marinating in God’s truth was implementing the “Word of the Year” in prayer. I went from “voyage” to “love” to “burn” to “nothing.” In some ways, these words came to me directly from Scripture or spiritual reading or even quotes from great books or leaders, but mostly, the feeling of the word transformed me.

When I was soaking in “voyage,” I knew I needed to be patient to reach the destination. When I was soaking in “love,” I knew I needed to embrace a reciprocal relationship; I was not alone. When I was soaking in “burn,” I knew I was being overtaken and would be changed and that change brought images of warmth and light. And now, as I soak in “nothing,” I realize I will never cease to have something new to learn about God; I am nothing in comparison and so I yield everything to Him and His Sacred Heart.

What truth is God asking you to soak in right now? Ask Him for how He wants to transform your heart, invite Him in, and I promise you only greatness can occur.