Dear Reader:

I wish I could say I remember my Granddaddy Wilson…You have heard me refer to Grandmother Wilson many times with her wits of wisdom and common sense approach to life…She was the one who also helped raise me for almost a year following my father’s death.

What is even more remarkable about grandmother’s grit is the fact that  Grandaddy died within months of my father and then daddy’s father died just weeks before he did. (So within a small scale of months I lost my father and both grandfathers.)

My only memories of Granddaddy Wilson come from the stories grandmother told me as a child. The one thing that stands out above all else (one small remnant of a memory) is that he loved grandmother’s biscuits. He liked them plain, with gravy but most of all he loved homemade biscuits with molasses! For him…this was dessert!

Grandmother always put either sausage gravy, bacon gravy, or ham gravy on Granddaddy’s breakfast biscuits…it was his favorite part of breakfast. It certainly kept him fortified until lunch when dinner was served…the biggest meal of the day.

The mid-day meal had to give granddaddy the strength to work those cotton fields until supper. Supper was the smallest meal…usually some left-overs from dinner and some evenings granddaddy would say he was just too tired to eat…but he would appreciate it…if Mary Ellen would fix him a couple of biscuits and molasses for a little “dessert” and then wink at her.

Granddaddy Wilson’s heart gave out on him and he suffered during his last days but one day he was feeling a little better and probably more to please grandmother than anything else…he said he thought he could eat a small biscuit with molasses for his “dessert.”

Grandmother asked if he didn’t want a plain biscuit, or a  biscuit with gravy but he shook his head and with a tired smile said…“No Mary Ellen…it takes longer to pour the molasses on that biscuit and I want to spend it all with you.” He died later that night.

Jo sent a “Biscuit Prayer” to me, recently, which I vaguely remembered hearing a long time ago… but it felt like it was meant to be read this July the Fourth. It, also, got me remembering Granddaddy Wilson. I sense he would have loved this prayer, especially on this patriotic day. I hope you, too, enjoy it.

“The Biscuit Prayer”

A while back I read a story of a visiting pastor who attended a men’s breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area of the country.

Have a safe holiday and let’s say a special prayer for God’s guidance through this difficult days! We need Him to shine the lantern to lead us out of the darkness.