In a way, buttermilk is a generational thing. By that I mean many older people (I’m talking about people older than I am!) like it, but not too many young people do. At least that’s what I think.

I’m no babe; just look at me. However, there is a generation that is one step closer to heaven than mine. My daddy and mother are still alive, as is my mother-in-law.

They like buttermilk. It’s hard for me to understand how sour milk could be an attractive taste.

But, many of that generation can take a glass of buttermilk and a piece of cornbread and make themselves a tasty meal.

Biologically, I am told that buttermilk is a healthy product. It’s what they call a “probiotic.” Those products are good for digestion, helping to move food through the bodily system. I’d rather take a pill. Buttermilk. I may be a farm boy but came up drinking my milk from a carton and never milking a cow. I do remember, though, churning at my Big Mama’s house and making butter. I couldn’t tell you how to start it but I do remember helping with it more out of curiosity than need.

Why all this about buttermilk? I have been thinking about it for many weeks because my mother-in-law has taken to drinking it quite a lot.

I’m glad because she enjoys it even though I still can’t understand the enjoyment of drinking sour milk. Then, Walter Goodman who, along with this wife, Del, owns and operates Dixie Dandy grocery store in West Bainbridge gave me a short email story that gave me a whole new perspective on buttermilk and other things having to do with life.

I’m sure many of you who receive emails regularly have seen this, but there are some who might not have. It goes like this.

“One Sunday morning at a small southern church, a pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head and said, ‘Lord, I hate buttermilk.’ The pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, ‘Lord, I hate lard.’ Now the pastor was totally perplexed.

The deacon continued, ‘Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But, after you mix them all together and bake them in an oven, I just love biscuits. Lord, help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up that we don’t like, and whenever we don’t understand what You are doing, that we need to wait and see what You are making.

After You get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be better than biscuits. Amen.’ That little story reminded me of a super verse of Scripture that all of us have heard at one time or another.

It’s Romans 8:28. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes.”

A little story like the buttermilk, the lard, and the plain flour doesn’t make difficult happenings go away. Buttermilk all by itself is still sour. What good is lard all by itself and how can anyone eat plain flour all by itself? Somebody somewhere along the way decided that all of those ingredients made something good to eat. God had to be in there somewhere.

In our lives, losses hurt. Sickness drains.

Broken relationships are real. It would be hard to make something good out of any of those three ingredients. That’s why, in my opinion, it’s good tohave God in there somewhere!