Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Bread and Milk

March 15, 2009  

Tonight’s weather forecast has gotten me thinking about the grocery store.

March is the most unpredictable of months, when winter still seems determined to hang around for a while and spring urges it not to fight the inevitable. The result is a mishmash of weather designed to both lift us up from the doldrums of the cold and the bleak yet remind us that we’re not quite there yet. Robins and flowers are appearing in my small town, yet everyone is well aware of the fact that some of our biggest snowstorms have occurred closer to Easter than Christmas.

So when the smiley weatherman said there was a chance of snow showers after midnight, everyone (and likely the weatherman included) knew deep down that a “chance of snow showers” often results in a blizzard and the complete shutdown of civilization for a few days.

I responded the same way everyone around here does when preparing for the possibility of a storm. I inventoried the kitchen.

Not for food and drink, per se. Not for soda or coffee or tea or eggs or cereal or meat. No. In a storm, those things don’t matter. What matters above all else, what guarantees survival in the midst of chaos, is bread and milk.

Though well-educated and very bright, the weatherman on the television is not always accurate when it comes to predicting nature’s mood swings. If you want to know what’s going to happen and when and how bad, you go to the Food Lion on Main Street. You walk through the doors and take an immediate left to the last two aisles, and you see how many people are scrambling for bread and milk. If there are only a few shoppers milling about, chances are good that everything will be fine. If it’s a mob, however, you’d better join in. Because trouble’s coming.

Never mind the fact that even in the worst of snowstorms, the good folks at the Department of Transportation will likely have the main roads cleared within a day. And never mind the fact that even if they didn’t, the four-wheel-drive in your driveway will still likely get you where you need to go. Those things don’t matter. What matters is that you can walk into your kitchen and find milk in your refrigerator and bread on your countertop.

We are living in the modern age. We have the benefit of a plethora of choices when it comes to food and drink. A simple trip to the store can get you bananas from Brazil, Pineapples from Hawaii, corn from Iowa, beef from Texas, and fish from Alaska. There is fancy coffee, plain tea, and more varieties of soda than I can count. Still, it’s the bread and milk.

The reason why this is so has escaped me for years. But now, whether through wisdom or experience or a little of both, I think I’ve found the answer.

Extravagance doesn’t offer us the comfort we need when the storms hit. The exotic and fancy loses their appeal. Instead we crave the very things that have gotten untold generations through the tough times and weathered untold tempests.

The basics. The essentials.

Bread and milk.

I see this every day now. We’re all caught in the storm. While politicians debate and economists theorize and the media search for answers, solutions seem few and fleeting. The old doesn’t work anymore, they say. The tried and true has been attempted and found wanting. So it’s time for the exotic and fancy.

Me, I’m not so sure.

Because the very things that have seen this country through the hard times in the past can see us through the hard times now. Things like faith and charity. Family and community. Holiness and commitment.

Most are now considered outdated. Some are under direct attack. That’s a shame, I think. Because a home without the basics is at the mercy of a storm. And so are we.

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Comments

  • lynnrush

    Awesome story, Billy. Right on target. Storms…yes, there are those that are not of the mother nature variety. If not prepared with Christ close to us, we will not make it through.

    Great post!

  • janelle

    Billy, great post.

    I can relate what you said to many of my experiences in Tijuana. But mostly, it reminds me that all I need I already have.

  • gzusfreek

    Well said, Billy. I am a little concerned for us the US. But I do have hope in the return of: “Things like faith and charity. Family and community. Holiness and commitment.”

    Thanks for sharing this!

  • jasonS

    Absolutely wonderful post! And woo hoo for fish from Alaska. :)

  • nAncY

    i agree, it is interesting to see what we reach for and why.

  • Tracy

    Yes! Thank you, Billy, for another great post! You really have a gift for putting things, times, and events into proper perspective. I love it! Blessings!

  • sharilyn

    “Because a home without the basics is at the mercy of a storm. And so are we…” and this, then, i believe is why our country is in such trouble in so many ways (economics, crime, ethics, morality, common courtesy, etc.)–because the “basics” include keeping God as a part of it all… He is the most basic need of all. He is the Foundation upon which this great country was established, and yet, He is the One Who is continually being excluded and eliminated and ignored. We need to go back to the basics of LIFE… We need to put the Bread of life back into daily life…

  • Frisbies Forever

    That’s why we keep it at the house so we never have to fight the mad shoppers. Then you are always ok. No matter what.

  • Lore

    When I lived down south I was also puzzled by the general mania a few snowflakes could incur. Up here we’re like the United States Postal Service: through rain, sleet, and snow, life goes on and we don’t stop, crawl, stock up, or cancel.

    Except for ice.
    Sometimes we slow the pace if there’s ice. To, you know, 50 mph, instead of 60.

  • Anne L.B.

    Your wisdom is shared by a prominent Teacher who once taught about building on Rock vs. sand to withstand storms.

    Nicely said, Billy.