Oh my,
how times have changed! Not a whole lot of families say grace
before they eat nowadays. When I was growing up,
however, we always said grace before we ate, and we really had
alot to be thankful for, even though we weren't aware of
it. One incident in particular made me forever thankful
to God for my food! I hope there are some young people
reading this, because I am sure you will get an inkling of
just HOW MUCH you truly have to BE thankful for!
When I think of fried chicken, I always think of my
mama. She was one of those little old ladies who was
always thankful to God for her many blessings. Our family
raised chickens commercially, as a sideline income, and we had
3000 of them, whew! There were 6 of us kids, and we
wanted chicken for supper, so my mama picked out a nice
looking rooster! He had SUPPER written all over him,
unbenownst to this rooster!
I was just a little
girl about 8 years old, but I can still see my mama attempting
to wring that rooster's neck. Yes, in those days you had to
kill the chickens to eat them, and people actually still did
that when I was growing up. Can you imagine this, you
young folks? No, I didn't think so! (Smile!)
My
mama grabbed that rooster by the neck, and swung that rooster
up in the air and twirled him around about 3 times, trying to
break his neck. I thought sure he was a goner, but she
set him down, he staggered a little, and then promptly ran
off! Not giving up, my mama waited another minute or so
and went after him again, grabbed him by the neck again ,
twirled him around and around three more times in the air,
attempting once again to break his neck! This rooster
just had staying power, and again, he just staggered, shook
his head, and ran off again. My mama was bound and determined,
though, and she reenacted this neck-wringing scenario one last
time, wrung him by the neck 3 more times, but he
just staggered off again, shook his head and ran off! I
knew then that we weren't going to have fried chicken for
supper!
As far as I know, I never saw my mama ever try
to wring another chicken's neck, and we ate bought chicken
from that point on. I think that incident hurt my mama's
heart as much as it did me to see it! We
were all grateful that we didn't have to see what happened to
our food before it got to our table! However, this
rooster incident gave me a great desire to always be thankful
for the food God has given us, but I have to say that I am
extra thankful for KFC, and the BIg Chic!
We should all take the time and give God the
appreciation and thanks that He so greatly deserves,
especially for our daily bread! After all, it could be
worse, you could have to worry about chasing your food down
and having it stagger off and run away! So I thank God
everyday for fast fried chicken and for food that doesn't run
away! Now I somehow have a craving for fried chicken,
and yes, I want it already cooked and ready to eat. I
don't want to chance it's running away from me!
I think I am going to fry myself up some southern
fried chicken now, all this writing has made me hungry. Yes,
and I think I will have coleslaw and mashed potatoes and gravy
with it, and some good old homemade biscuits too. Supper is at
6 pm, see you all later! Ya'll come back now, ya hear?
Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily
bread.
Acts 2:46
And they, continuing daily with one
accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house,
did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of
heart.
Marty Clayton Banfield
email: lastdays@bellsouth.net
Assembled by Kat |
