Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.” John 11:21-23
Biscuits…hot, with butter and syrup. There are certain foods that almost act like a time machine and one of them is a good, southern biscuit. My Momma was a good cook, but her biscuits were like their own food group. She would clear off the counter, get out the lard, flour and milk (and I guess a couple of other things), mixed them together in a bowl, plop out the mixture on the counter and roll it out with her ancient rolling pin.
If I remember right, she would grab a ball of the dough, flatten and shape it in her hand and then put it on the pan. Then, for whatever reason, she would take a finger or her thumb and put a little dimple in the top. After a few minutes in the oven, out they came, heaven in a pan. While still hot, we would add butter and just like that—a timeless, priceless southern delicacy. Need dessert? No problem, just add butter and syrup and you have southern dining at its best.
When we recently traveled south, we visited with two of my three sisters and both of them made…biscuits. I’m not sure if it was Momma’s recipe or not but what I can tell you is that they were delicious. While both served real butter, not that fake stuff, one served them with orange marmalade. My, my they were good. But wait…there is more. We also visited with Judy’s brother and his wife Sandra also made biscuits. I am sure somewhere down the line we must be related because the biscuit DNA was a perfect match. Awesome…pure awesome.
My oldest biscuit making sister recently sent me an article about prayer that just happened to mention biscuits and I knew I needed to share it here with all my grits and biscuit loving friends.
The story goes like this. One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head and said, ”Lord, I hate buttermilk.”
The pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, “Lord, I hate lard.” Now the pastor was totally perplexed. The deacon continued, “Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix ’em all together and bake ’em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits.”
“Lord, help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up that we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what You are doing, that we need to wait and see what You are making. After You get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits. Amen.”
I just love that story and isn’t it so true? If we took the ingredients for biscuits, or most any other thing and tasted them individually, we probably wouldn’t eat much. But when mixed together…well good things happen. We have a loving Heavenly Father, our Dearest Daddy, who can and will masterfully mix circumstances and events in our life. Sometimes, perhaps often, by themselves they make no sense and leave us wondering what God is up to. But, if we are willing to wait, if we are willing to trust, we will usually find that God had a surprise for us…better even than hot biscuits. Now, I need to be fair and say that some of those surprises might be on the other side of the last heartbeat but regardless…He can be trusted.
So, the next time, you are enjoying a good homemade hot biscuit smothered in melted butter and perhaps a big baptism of syrup, remember that biscuit only happened when the biscuit maker put everything together. And, when the circumstances of life don’t make sense, well, just hang on. When the heavenly “Biscuit Maker” gets done, well, it will be worth it all, worth the wait. Don’t you worry…He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 