"Got Scraps?"

“Got scraps?”

“Ummm,ummm, ummhh! Thelma, that there was dee-li-cious! Woman, you sure know how to cook up some’m out of nuth’n!” Sam loosened his warn tight belt and looked over toward his wife and asked, “Whatcha gonna do with those leftovers honey?” “I don’t know Sam. I just was think’n to toss them outside into the can. There’s not nearly enough here for two for another night’s meal.”

Sam got up slowly from his chair, rubbing his belly and declared, “Now don’t go wasting that there food!” Sam’s eyes were as wide as lumps of coal! “Oh no you don’t Mr. Samuel Baker, you ain’t hav’n another servin! You’ve had about enough! I don’t know what you could be think’n,” said Thelma as her ample body shook in unison with the rhythm of her laughter.

Sam was in a rambl’n mood tonight and continued, “I don’t know why you always have them there leftovers, you make extra food like yer prepare’n for another sett’n. Thelma kept a straight face, but inside she was feeling hopeful, “It’d be nice if one evening we’d invite someone over. The company would be like a breath of fresh air and entertain’n for a change. Don’t ya think?” Sam’s overgrown salt and pepper eyebrows lifted and he barked, “Woman, you know I don’t like company and I sure don’t like wasting good food on somebody else.”

Thelma tried to keep a pleasant face on the outside, but the sadness broke through anyway, internally she was broken and lonely. Know’n how this conversation was gonna end, Thelma offered, “Well Sam, if you’d like, I could just give them there scraps to the dog.” Sam stood in the middle of the dining room, with his hands folded across his large protruding belly, and stared out in front of him as if pondering this thought for the first time. Thelma took a deep breath and waited with a bit of annoyance for his usual reply. “May as well. Huh! That there dog eats better than some of the folks round here!” Thelma didn’t like seeing Sam getting rowdy, but every once in a while she dared to say, “I could always make a nice plate and give these scraps to one of the young’uns down the road.” Knowing her sharp words would cut through a thick steak she braced herself for the inevitable scold’n. “Woman those kids have got a daddy, they can take care of themselves! Why you always look’n to do things like that. Go on now, get those scraps in that there dog bowl.”

Thelma drearily cleared up the dishes from the table and stacked up things as best she could in the kitchen sink for washing in a bit. She wrung out a warm towel and tossed it over her shoulder, then gathered the leftovers and caringly arranged them on a clean plate. When she was done, she went to the threshold of the kitchen door and looked in the direction of the sitt’n area near the warm roar’n fire. Thelma tilted her head forward, peered over her steamed up bifocal glasses, and took a somber look at her husband sitt’n as comfortable as can be right next to the fireplace on his much loved rock’n chair. She deliberately counted, “Five, four, three, two, one, wheewww, aahhhh, wheewww, aahhhhh.” Then she looked up as if she could see right through the ceil’n in the house, “Thank you dear Lord for all my bless’ns.” Thelma called out to her sleep’n husband, “Sam, I’m go’n out back for a while. Gonna peel some corn and gath’r some
eggs for the morn’n.

Thelma hastily knocked on the barn door and looked carefully behind her as she always did. Hold’n the plate of food in her left hand, she pushed the barn door open with her right and entered. She tossed the dog a few scraps of food and shoed him away. Thelma took a deep breath which barely helped to clear deceit from her upset tummy. Her heart however needed no cleans’n. She whispered, “Lit’l Carl, you there? I brought you some snippets of food, boy.” Through only the light of the full moon that shone through a single shutter window, a young boy appeared from the darkness. “I’m here, Mrs. Bak’r.” Thelma heart’s leaped for joy right through the roof, and she bit her bottom lip nervously at the sight of him. She had held inside so much concern for the young boy for the past couple of months. She saw that he wore the same ol’ high watered pants she had salvaged for him, the grayed shirt that used to be white, and the hand-me-down shoes that were now too small for his grow’n feet. His toes were healing from cuts she imagined he obtained from shrubs, and the like, and now peeked out from the new frayed holes. Her hands burned to urgently work on fix’n his shoes. She shook her head in disbelief and heartbreak at what he wore and her imagination ran wild over where he might have been sleep’n. She vowed to get up the nerve to stand up to Sam and take this boy in and meanwhile to try to do better than her last patch work on them shoes.

With caring labored hands she pushed aside his long disheveled hair that covered his pleasant youthful eyes, and then she wiped with a warm soft cloth his brown streaked and nicked face that told of the dirt and gravel he must have slept on. Then he sat on the floor cross legged and gobbled up the warm home cooked food, and licked his fingers clean. Then with an incredible sparkle in his eyes that shone right through eyelids that drooped down in a natural sadness, he said, “Thank you, ma’m. This is the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”

When he was done eat’n Carl showed Thelma how he had peeled the corn for her, gathered the eggs, and moved the bales of hay like she had shown him once before.

Thelma pulled out her worn bible from underneath an old horse’s saddle and unwrapped it from the white cloth that protected it and sat down and read a bit of scripture to him. Finally, Carl got up and went on over and peered out the window look’n straight up to the heavens and asked, “Ms. Bak’r, have ya ever seen a real Angel of God?” Thelma placed her warm hand on the small of his neck and smiled looking at the boy rather than the sky, “Well, I have to say that maybe . . . I have once.” She looked at him endearingly knowing he would not understand that he has been sent to her from the good Almighty God above. She asked him quite seriously, “Have you Carl? Have ya ever seen an Angel of God?” He pondered the thought a moment and replied, “I don’t think I have.” He squinted his brows and pursed his lips while he was think’n. ”I don’t quite know what brought that to mind, but I get the feeling I’m real close to see’n one.”

Okay, so let’s go over this whole, “got scraps” idea. It’s all about making things go as far as we can to avoid waste and then of course with our abundance (aka “leftovers”) exercise ways where we can help others, give a gift, offer aid, tender a donation, provide assistance, show compassion, do a good deed, and/or carry out an act of kindness. I’m talking “charitable” not as an afterthought, but as a preconceived idea.

Now if you’ve got a charitable heart already, God bless you, keep at it. You are a great model for others to model and mock. “Mock?” Yes. Us humans, we have a nasty streak in us. We really do have a good heart inside our hardened exterior, however we don’t mean to be cruel, it just comes out naturally. We’ve unconsciously been conditioned to respond this way. We might say things like, “how can he help that lady with fixing things around her house when he’s got his wife at home who needs help.” Or how about this one, “look at her she thinks her cooking is so good that she’s gotta bring trays of it into the lunch room.” Oh, what about this, “that family thinks they’re so special because the priest goes over to their house for dinner.” The message here is that we can be those people too. Not for the attention or some sort of personal glory, but for the good of another. That elderly lady may be a widow, divorced, or perhaps her children neglect her and may have no one to lean on. Frankly, she needs help. The woman with the trays of food worked hard to prepare it for everyone in the office wanting to share an act of love; it could be that she has no one at home anymore to cater to. Be honest, have you ever taken a plate of her delicious enchiladas and was thankful on a day you didn’t have any lunch money? Come on now, blessings are everywhere and for everyone! And what about the priest, why isn’t he at church? Well, he is still a human after all. He has given his life to God, not given up his life. He requires social experiences, deserves to be cared about and loved, and would enjoy a home cooked meal every once in a while. You’ve got a priest in your parish, a dining room in your warm home, and a special meal that you are, well, kind of proud of. Go for it!

We are wasteful with a lot of things in life. Let’s do start with food. Yes, we over eat! We might in fact have enough for another meal or perhaps enough to include a couple of invited guests at your dinner table. And at the same time we may be able to begin to address the portion control problem we face today, hence, our obesity problem. We will live with a little less on our plates. While we’re at it, we can lower our high caloric intake, high cholesterol, and maybe give our heart a rest by not falling asleep as soon as we sit down to watch television.

Good for you! You served smaller portions and made dinner to last two days instead of one. Agh, and what a nice person you are, you thought about someone else, and PLANNED IT that way! That’s so lovely that you were able to provide a meal for your nice widowed neighbor, or for the woman who is going through cancer treatments and is so sick she cannot care for her family as before, and the priest at your parish did not have to eat a frozen dinner again. Wow, you invited over for dinner the “only child” who lives across the street who is at home alone every night because his single parent is working the night shift. What’s the reward? Do you have to ask? Would being a blessing to someone be good enough?

We’ve got an overabundance of aluminum and plastic containers so we are called to recycle to save the environment and the planet. If you are too lazy or frustrated to take those plastic milk containers, soda cans and beer bottles to the local recycling center (I agree it is a pain), then PLAN TO donate those big filled trash bags to a school or local center that could use the dough! Schools collect box tops too!

If you are a sewer, like say a quilter, a crocheter, or a knitter, make the beautiful blanket for yourself or the gift you intended, and then with the leftover yarn or material make some potholders, or booties, little purses, or hats and scarves and PLAN TO give them to those who might enjoy it like a preschool class, a retirement home, or a children’s hospital.

If you received an inheritance from a loved one decide how you can share a portion with a needy family or a charity that survives on donations.

There are numerous ways in our lives that we can help each other that won’t necessarily require money. What about time folks? We go around acting like we are so busy. Hey, we make our own schedules, and we can rearrange them for the benefit of someone else. Granted there are some instances where the work hours go beyond reasonable. Financially, I get it, things are tight. However, who do you spend your time with at work? How can you make a difference during work hours? The ideas and ways are endless.

Here’s an idea, turn off the television. What, not my boob tube! There is way too much television being watched and time that we can be utilizing much more effectively and productively. We can spare an hour or perhaps a day and lend it to a needy situation or cause. Get involved in something that matters. I tell you, when you are feeling the pressures of life, financially and emotionally, there is no better way to deal with it than to take the attention off of yourself and your circumstances.

That’s it. Rise up! Stand firm! This is the new you! You are more than capable of helping heal a lonely heart and able to offer solutions to simple everyday dilemmas. And what’s more rewarding than doing for others so that their burdens are lighter, seeing hearts warmed by your thoughtfulness, and feeding a smile rather than rousing tears. I think someone named Jesus lived that way and was mocked for it. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Got scraps? Yeah, I’ve got scraps! But, I AM PLANNING to use my leftover fragments of time, morsels of love, and bits and pieces of my heart for the good of others. And I refuse to let particles or crumbs be wasted anymore.

Sounds like a plan to me! Is it time to eat again? You bet it is! Feast on love all day long!



Inspired by Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.