“Scratch”

 I didn’t always listen closely as my Mum explained about how to prepare and cook for a Family and as a result, my Cooking ability was practically non-existent when I got Married. But, I did remember Mum mentioning that she did make Cakes, Pies and other things from Scratch.

 So my first priority after the Honeymoon, was to locate some Scratch.

 With mother’s delicious Cakes and Pies in mind, my first trip to the Supermarket was to buy some Scratch.

  I found the aisle that read — Baking Items. I spent a good 15 minutes looking at everything from Vegetable oil, Sugar, Flour and Chocolate without seeing a sign of Scratch. I was sure it wouldn’t be with the Pickles or the Meat.

 I asked one of the sales Staff if they carried Scratch.

 He looked at me funny and finally said…

“You’ll have to go to the Store on the corner.”

 When I got there, it turned out to be a feed store. I thought it rather strange, but I decided Cakes were food.

 “Do you have Scratch?” I asked the clerk. He asked me how much I wanted. I suggested a pound or two.

 His reply was …”How many Chickens do you have? It only comes in 20 pound bags.” I really didn’t understand why he mentioned Chickens, but I had heard Mum say she made Chicken Casserole from scratch.

 So, I bought 20 pounds and hurried home.

 My next problem was to find a recipe calling for Scratch. I went through
every single page of my lovely “Better Homes and Gardens” Cookbook, which was  a Wedding gift.

 I looked and looked for a recipe using Scratch. There I was with 20 pounds of it and no recipe.

When I opened the Scratch, I had doubts that a beautiful, fluffy Cake would
ever result from such a hard looking ingredient. I hoped with the addition
of liquids and heat the result would be successful.

  I thought I would mention my problem to my new Husband.

 He had suggested very early in our marriage that he liked to Cook and would gladly help at anytime, but I really wanted to try myself first.

 One day he made a Pie and when I told him how good it was, he said that he made it from Scratch. That assured me that it could be done.

 Being a new Bride is scary and when I found out he made Pies, Cakes, and
even Lemon pudding from Scratch, well, if he made all those things from Scratch, I was sure he had bought a 20 pound bag of Scratch also. But, I couldn’t find where he stored it, and I checked my supply it was still full!

 At this point I was ready to give up because all the people knew about Scratch except me. I decided to try a different approach.

One day when my Husband was not doing anything, I said, “Honey, I wish you’dbake a Cake.” He got out the flour, sugar, eggs, milk and shortening.

But,not a sign of Scratch.

  I watched him blend it together, pour it into a pan and slide it into the Oven to bake. An hour later, as we were eating the Cake,

 I looked at him and smiled and said…

 “Honey, why don’t we raise a few Chickens?”

 Confusion and ignorance with many things can cause mistakes and misunderstandings and this is the same as understanding God’s Truth…

We need to be sure we don’t go by our own or someone else’s  worldly understanding it needs to be confirmed as God’s Truth and to know if it is we need to ask  God for His wisdom which we all lack…

 Jesus Christ tells us we don’t have because we don’t ask but we must believe we have received when we ask and then we will know the Truth and it will set us free and we won’t be scratching around looking for worldly answers or will we be confused.

 Proverbs 3: 5-8 & James 1:4-6