The Gumbo Story and Faith

The Gumbo Story and Faith

By Nina Benson

Once upon a time, a good friend asked about the history of why I make gumbo for New Years, a tradition in my family.

From somewhere in my mind, (I know not where), came these words…

My 2014 Gumbo

“Well, the small grains of rice represent a poor man’s meal, mixed with potatoes, (I don’t use okra – I have never developed a taste for the this vile vegetable and was forced to eat my life’s allotment, totally, as a child - nevermore), and carrots…  And we can’t forget the tears from the onions that represented a sorrowful past of generations of family that worked hard and never achieved as much as they had dared to dream – but had faith that with time.... When things got a tad better there was chicken to add to the mix, then pork, (which I exclude, because so many people don’t partake, but I do used smoked turkey sausage)… Oh, but things got even better for the man, as he worked harder and harder, so in time, he was able to add beef. Eventually, the man reached his pinnacle and was able to add an assortment of seafood to the mix….  But the meal is about having faith in the face of insurmountable odds that through the struggle and striving for something better, there is accomplishment. The gumbo is about the steadfastness of honest hard work and it’s rewards - The coming together of family and celebration of achievement…. ”

I had to confess to our friend some years later – I had no idea the truth of the words I spoke. They simply sounded good at the time and seemed to make sense. I asked my older sister about what I had said and she too had no clue about any “Gumbo Story”.

The “Gumbo Story” really did exist in the lives of my family, in theory… However, the “story” now exist, this made-up one; and I have faith that it will move forward in the family now that the words have been spoken, put to paper and given life.

I have faith.

Faith, like that of the generations in my “story”, really did exist. In my family life has always been about moving forward and upward – even when times appeared as if nothing was happening – when life’s waters were dark and stagnant – out of the depths, hope prevailed.

There has been a millennia of people with faith that something better will come out of hardship – that something good will come. It could start with faith as small as a mustard seed…

New Years are opportunities for reset, starting fresh, stepping out in faith and moving mountains. Seize the day, move forward…

Soli de Gloria