All I Ever Wanted

My Granny was a good woman and happiness resided in her kitchen--more specifically, in her oven. Seems like no matter what time of the day or night we arrived to visit , almost immediately she would begin to pull out warm bowls of deliciousness from her oven.

One of my favorite dishes of hers were her butter beans. Not ordinary butter beans I tell ya... but the kind that turned gray in the pot! I think they were called "speckled butter beans" and they came straight from her garden.


Now when Granny set the table, she used real dishes--I don't know if Granny even knew plastic and paper dishes existed. Corn bread and biscuits went on a certain platter. Roast always went into a certain dish as well as the peas, macaroni and fried chicken.

And always, always, always the gray butter beans went into the bowl with the gray/bluish clover leaves on it!

My Granny passed away at the age of 93 some twenty-eight years ago. I have no idea what happened to the "butter bean bowl". What I can tell you is that for twenty-eight years, every time I entered a flea market or antique store (and there have been many) I looked for Granny's butter bean bowl. I thought if I could just find one that looked like it that would be enough for me.

But that never happened.

At least not until the other day. The hubby and I visited an antique store in a small town about 30 miles west of where we live. As I entered the store that day I did something I had not done in previous trips. While browsing through the aisles I whispered a small prayer to God and asked Him to please let me find Granny's butter bean bowl. I admitted to Him it was probably a silly request but after all these years I still longed for that little reminder of my Granny's love and faithfulness. Just a token.

I again chastised my own self as I continued to shop. Who prays for dishes? Doesn't God have bigger problems to solve?

By this time I was in the very back of the store. I was alone as Hubby had already made his way up to the second floor. Casually, my eyes came to rest on a bottom shelf. Amid all of the whatnots and bric-a-brac there was a bowl sitting there with a plate on top of it. For some reason I stooped over and removed the plate.

What I saw made me catch my breath! I couldn't believe my eyes! Here was a bowl that looked much like Granny's butter bean bowl! It even had the gray/bluish clovers on it! The search was over--I had finally found it! Glory, glory!



*Note to self: Don't forget to pray.
**Another note to self: Don't act so surprised when God answers prayers.


"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Luke 11:9


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~