We work to feed ourselves, but we live to enjoy ourselves.”
–Kenneth S. Pratt (Willow Falls)
“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”
–Psalm 63:5 (NKJV)
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On Monday, we have bread and gravy,
On Tuesday, it’s gravy on bread,
On Wednesday, it’s gravy on toast,
On Thursday, it’s muffins instead.
On Friday, it’s rye bread and gravy,
On Saturday it’s gravy on cake;
But Sunday’s a treat, ’cause we never get meat,
We get gravy without any bread.
–Home and Jethro
I guess growing up, we were what was considered “poor.” I never thought we were, but when I look back on it we must have been. I took baloney sandwiches to school and Grandma always made cookies or brownies. But I can remember many times just having a mayonnaise sandwich or mayonnaise and lettuce sandwich. Chips, what were they? I do remember when my Aunt Bern went to work for Safeway that the table faire increased because of her increased pay. The thing is–we never went hungry and we were content.
Perhaps this quarantine has helped, at least some of us, to be content with what we have. We seem to clamor for more, more, more and really we need less. Now, that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t enjoy the blessings that we have been given, and we should be thanking our heavenly Father for those blessings. Paul wrote, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11, NKJV). We rarely had steak on the table when I was a kid and we were content. Now, we can have steak once in a while, and I enjoy it, and I am content.
I was blessed, for whatever Grandma made tasted good. That blessing ran over in abundance when the girl I married did the same. Maybe it’s not so much what we have, but who is preparing the food and that adds to the blessing. I wrote earlier this week, could you live today on what you thanked the Lord for yesterday? How did you answer it? Truly thank the Lord if He has allowed steak on your table, but don’t be any less thankful for the pinto beans. Thank Him if you have meat in the gravy to cover your biscuits, but thank Him just the same if you just had gravy made from the drippings.
This is one of those reasons that evil clown, and I mean those words, Cortez riles me up. “Stay home from work,” she cries, when work is one of those blessings we have been given. That’s when a person has their plate broken, when they refuse to work. Not being able to is one thing, but refusing to work when it is available is another. Count your blessings, whatever they are.