Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8
My eyes said “gravy”, but my mouth said “sweet.” I’m just not much of a cook. In fact, if cook was a bigger word, I probably wouldn’t even be able to spell it. With that said, every once in a while, I am forced to venture into the kitchen. I do manage to cook my own breakfast but occasionally I even manage to mess that up. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago.
It was Saturday and My wife Judy had a teaching thing in a town about an hour away, so I was on my own. She had cooked some sausage gravy the day before, so I looked in the refrigerator to see if there was any left. There was some sausage but no gravy. I did find a small container that looked like the milk and flour beginnings of gravy, so I grabbed that and poured it into the frying pan.
After a few moments, I realized whatever this was needed some help. Despite my best efforts, it simply wasn’t becoming gravy. I went to the pantry and found seasoned flour and shoveled in several tablespoons. Well, that did the trick, in fact so much, that I had to add some milk to loosen it up some. Before long it at least looked like gravy. Well, about that time a piece of sausage went over the side of pan and onto the stove. I picked it up and, being the frugal guy that I am, popped it in my mouth. “Hmmm, not bad, but sweet. How strange” I said out loud to myself.
Well, I put the gravy in a bowl and, since we were out of bread, got a spoon and proceeded to dig in. To my surprise, the “gravy” was indeed sweet and yes, I did go ahead and eat it. How strange indeed. Well, I pondered and pondered how I ended up with sweet gravy and I finally figured it out. You see, Judy had put some of her Italian sweet cream creamer into a container to take on our trip to Georgia. She had forgotten to take it and the container was still in the refrigerator. It turns out that what I thought was the makings of gravy was in fact coffee creamer.
You know, it sure looked right and it even kind of cooked right, but the bottom line was regardless of how it looked or cooked—it was not what I thought it was. And I learned that coffee creamer just doesn’t make gravy. I’m not sure what it makes—but it doesn’t make gravy. I learned there and then to make sure I knew what was going in the pan before I started cooking.
That is a great lesson for making gravy and it is a great lesson for doing life with God. There are some things in this world that can look like God. Religion is one of them. And there are plenty of things that can take the place of God and in the process become a god. So, it is important we make sure we are loving and serving Creator God and not some sort of substitute. And remember, nothing, and I mean nothing, can take the place of the real deal. Whether it is in the kitchen or on the streets—make sure you have what is real. If you find yourself a little confused, don’t worry, just ask Him and He will let you know what’s real and what’s not. He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 