A little detail

Oh, how I wish I had the capability to post pictures once again! I would happily post one of my new utensil crock. My kitchen decorating theme is strawberries, and from time to time people will give me strawberry items, sometimes useful, sometimes purely decorative. This one is both. Here’s how I acquired it:

It seems that most of the transfer stations (colloquially known to most of us as “dumps”) around here have an area set aside where townsfolk can leave items that are still useful for others to look through -- the “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” principle. I’ve obtained a few good books that way, and have been able to pass on many of my own used books, magazines, etc. in the same way. My mother-in-law is a great fan of this “recycle area” at her town dump, and recently brought me a very nice stoneware crock decorated with a strawberry design which she had found there. She thought maybe I could use it for a plant pot or something.

I told her I certainly could use it! It looked roomy enough to hold all of my cooking utensils. At the moment, these utensils were housed in two different containers on the kitchen counter. Wooden spoons stood in a cylindrical wooden container some wood utensils had come in many years ago. It was now old, ugly and grease-stained. I’d been debating for some time how to refurbish or replace it. The rest of my utensils were in an amber glass apothecary jar, which was at least attractive, but they were crowded in and hard to retrieve when needed.

That very day, I scrubbed up the strawberry crock with dish soap, water and a Scotch-Brite®-backed sponge. It came out looking like new! When it was thoroughly dry, I put all of the utensils -- wooden spoons and all -- in the crock, with room to spare. It fits my decorating theme and looks gorgeous.

To me this is just a great example of how God cares about the details of our lives. It’s such a little thing. The containers I had were working. It was not really necessary for me to have a new container for my utensils. (It’s really rather rebuking when one thinks about how many cooks in this world don’t even own such a thing.) I probably would never have gotten around to buying one. Yet God knows my desire to be better organized and to declutter my house. He provided this detail for me! It is indeed a little thing. But such little details are the “grace notes” God adds to give sparkle to our lives.