A Padded Commode Seat

“A Padded Commode Seat”
The View From Granny’s Back Porch
Written By Joy Mathis Chadwick
A Padded Commode Seat

Happy New Year from Granny’s Back Porch! As I look out this frosty morning, it doesn’t really look any different than it did last week. But it’s a new year. As I look in the mirror, I don’t see a face that I didn’t see last week. But it’s a new year. As I glance through the headlines in the newspaper, things don’t seem much different than they did last week. But it’s a new year.

With a new year comes all kinds of promises I will make to myself; some I’ll try pretty hard to keep up with; most of them I’ll forget about no sooner than I leave the room to get another cup of coffee. But at the top of my list of promises for this morning is to get all the Christmas decorations boxed up and the tree put away until next year. I’ll enjoy looking over the Christmas cards one more time before I put them away. I’ll pause to remember the gifts we received this year and mentally make a note that I should at least write some thank you cards. My hubby always tries so hard to get me the perfect gift, and usually he does. Usually.

My momma used to tell me over and over and over, “Joy Lynn, you be careful what you pray for/ wish for ‘cause you might just get it.” What I’m fixin’ to tell you about is certainly not something that I wished or prayed for, yet I got it anyhow. (“Fixin’ to” is a southern expression that loosely translates “about to”.)

While on vacation many years ago, we visited with a dear aunt that we don’t get to see but maybe once every year or two. We were all so very happy to be at her house; she makes anyone who comes through her backdoor feel so loved and welcomed. Some of you may already know that I’m talking about Aunt Lovie. (Aunt Lovie has a twin sister named Dovie; she’s a sweetheart too.) We hadn’t been there too long before I had to visit the little girl’s room. (Yes, this is an important part of this epic story.) When I came out and went back into the living room where everyone had gathered, there seemed to be a lull in the conversation. A lull in any conversation always makes me feel obligated to start speaking; this is not a gift; this is a curse. So I piped up and announced the first thing that came to mind; obviously I should have put more thought into what I was saying when I announced that Aunt Lovie had the nicest commode seat; it was a padded seat and “oh how I wish we had one too”.

Fast forward six months later. It’s Christmas. We’re opening gifts and my beloved proudly hands me a large gift that he had wrapped himself, beaming as he urges me to hurry up and unwrap it. Yep, you guessed it. He seriously got me a padded commode seat. It wasn’t a gag gift; it was bought with love. He had remembered that crazy statement I had made six months prior at Aunt Lovie’s house and got me exactly what I had wished for. The biggest part of me was so touched that not only did he remember, but he took so much pride in every detail. The other part of me made a mental note to always carry duck tape with me in case there is a lull in any conversation; I will need the duck tape for my mouth. Be careful what you wish for.

God knew that I really didn’t have my heart set on a padded commode seat. What God did know was that for years prior to meeting my beloved, I had asked Him to send me someone who cared about the desires of my heart, someone who would listen, someone who would not only take care of our family’s needs, but our wants also. The padded commode seat was just a reminder of yet another answer to prayer.

But back to this new year situation. I said earlier that even though it’s now 2021, things don’t seem that much different than they did last week. Remember what I said about my momma’s advice? “Be careful what you pray for ‘cause you just might get it.” I am, along with our entire nation, anxious to see how the political climate may change. I would hope that all Christians, regardless of political persuasion, have prayed for God’s will to be done for our country. Over and over in the Old Testament we are told how that God’s will can be accomplished, regardless of who or what it is channeled through. Are we ready for God’s will? We have pleaded with God countless times for friends and loved ones who have experienced firsthand the effects of 2020’s Covid-19 virus, yet I can’t help but wonder if God isn’t using this virus to bring His people together in one accord. I guess my point that I’m trying to make is that we do indeed need to pray for God’s will, yet sometimes we don’t recognize an answer to prayer if it’s not presented in a nice and pretty package. Let’s resolve this new year to look for God even in the smallest of details, in all the “coincidences”, because it’s through the little things that we begin to see that God is indeed sending answers to our prayers.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matthew 7:7-11 KJV