Comfort Food

Comfort food. We all know what that means and to each one of us it holds a special memory, thought, taste. No matter what your favorite comfort food might be.....it's special to each of us in only the way it can be. Similar to a certain song that comes on the radio and when we hear it, we are transported back to a certain time and we can relive it for a few minutes. Same with comfort food. Some of us have several tasty food items we could share but it might not have the same taste to someone else as it does to you....that's what makes it so neat, unique and special to you.

One of mine is just a plain old can biscuit with butter on it....hot of course. It takes me right into my Mom's kitchen and I can see her there....and I'm taking another biscuit and getting under the kitchen table to just have a special place of my own....and enjoy the dripping of the butter. That is a taste I can have anytime I make some canned biscuits and I close my eyes and there is my Mom. There are a few others too, but that one really sends the nostalgic wave over me.

For many of us though.....there are some comfort foods we will no longer have in our lives. I miss my Mom's meatloaf, her chicken and dumplings, her fried chicken. Try as I might....it just doesn't have the same taste as the way my Mom made it. My Dad's kettle beef is another one I miss....now I can go down to Ste. Gen at the Old Brick on Sundays....and it's pretty spot on for the taste. Those old French/German cooks down in the area, still fix it the same as when the settlers settled in that part of Missouri. I'll pass on the liver dumplings though!

Sometimes we can have a handed down recipe and it still doesn't quite have that taste as Mom, Grandma, Dad or someone made. We know we can't taste it the same again. I know one day or hope one day that my kids will miss something I always cooked that they liked. When they come home I try to fix foods that I know they had growing up and will enjoy.....because I know how important it is to have those memories of food you loved....and one day we no longer get to have it anymore and the taste will never be there again.

Comfort....that word that brings peace to our hearts....joy and fond memories and makes us feel good. I get that too when I read certain Bible verses. After all....God's Word is the Bread of Life. Each time I read a verse, it brings me the memories and thoughts of knowing I have a loving God who cares about me and makes sure His word lifts me up and corrects me when needed. I know one thing....comfort food may leave us but God's comfort never will and that is a real COMFORT to me. Here's a good morsel to start with:

" Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)