Small Things Used Daily

Daily Gratitude Year Four-Day 332: Today, I am grateful for my old gas stove. (Text my journal prompt #27: What small thing used daily are you grateful for?)

Almost four years into daily gratitude and not once have I remembered to be grateful for my stove/oven. It isn't fancy. It is quite old. It does not even had auto clean. We purchase our home here "with appliances". 

The people we purchased our Morton home from proceeded to swap the ancient, ugly 70's bronze colored appliances from the house they purchased just off Grandview Drive... taking their much nicer ones with them. So, on top of a home purchase, we needed appliances. We got a "basic" stove and small refrigerator. We knew the energy cost on the old 70's models would be high.. and they looked terrible in the kitchen that was new to me. 

My humble little stove has cooked meal after meal since 1996. I have neglected to clean the oven as often as I should... it just keeps making meals without complaint. We eat at home most meals. it gets a work out. I prefer food cooked on a stove. The microwave is the stove's sidekick, not where meals are made.

Hams, turkeys, roasts, casserole (the working girl's answer to what's for dinner), pizza, brownies, pies, pumpkin muffins and so much more. The upside to the "Great Appliance Swap" was that we ran a gas line and I was able to have the gas stove put in place.  I have cooked on both... I cook better with gas!

The years have come and gone... 20 of them... and she keeps chugging along. I have been using an alternative timer for years, but other than that... it still cooks, simmers, boils and bakes. I would love an update... but today, I will be grateful for the Magic Chef that keeps on "takes a licking" and keeps on cooking. 

One of my recent favorite passages in the Bible are from the 40 years in the desert where Moses led... or attempted to lead the Israelite people. They whined and complained about nearly everything, yet God provided water from the tap of a stone, manna daily, sandals that didn't wear out and more quail than they could eat. They had plenty in the midst of the trial. Supper at the end of the daily struggles. They were blessed but for much of the time, unsatisfied.

Sometimes... I act like that, too. Blessed but unsatisfied.

My old stove isn't fancy... but it keeps providing hot meals. My God blesses in so many tiny ways that I forget to be grateful. 20 years on a stove that cost under $300. Blessed beyond measure. 

Today, I am grateful for my old gas stove.