Surely to Goodness - She Said

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6

Listen to Surely to Goodness

“Surely to goodness!” My mom shook her head as she stared at the broken glass bowl. It was her favorite. The one she mixed cookie dough in, beat eggs, creamed potatoes…her favorite.

I stood, hands behind by back, toes swollen and tears pooling. I knew it was her favorite bowl and, when she sent me next door to bring it home from a neighbor who’d borrowed it, her last words were, “Cindy, be careful. That bowl is heavy and I don’t want you to drop it and break it.”

I could tell she was upset. She bit down on her bottom lip then knelt. “I asked you to be careful.”

“I know. I tried.”

“Stand still. This will hurt.”

I lifted my eyes toward the sky and waited for the sting. As a kid, I’d done my share of mischievous things—climbed the cherry tree next door, bombed my neighbor’s sister with mushy cherries, tore a trench down our steep gravel driveway sliding in a refrigerator box Dad brought home…and oh, I forgot about the patch of Iris that Mom had planted the fall before. Those got in the way as we slid down the driveway in the box. Refrigerator boxes don’t have power steering. Every time, Mom said, “Surely to goodness.” We say that a lot in the mountains.

But this time, glass bowl shattered at my feet, I figured Mom would kill me. She brushed her forehead with her palm as she eyed the best way to handle things. Blood pooled at my feet.

“I asked you to stand still.” Her nose flared.

She carefully picked up the two larger pieces of glass and dropped them into a cardboard box. “Take hold of my shoulder and balance.” I slipped my fingers over her shoulder. Mom looked up and smiled. She pulled my hand to her lips and gently kissed. “Ready?”

I took a deep breath and squinted. Mom took hold of the huge shard and pulled. Blood gushed. She jumped to her feet and swept me into her arms. It happened when our neighbor’s goose chased me and bit into my rear end. I dropped the huge bowl, shattering it. And when the goose snapped at me again, I stepped down onto the sharp glass, sinking the 5 inch chunk deep into the flesh of my foot.

Mom wrapped my foot and drove me to the ER. She said it again. “Surely to goodness.” Only this time she added, “You were in God’s hands that you didn’t fall on the glass and ram it into your stomach.”

I thought she was mad at me for breaking the bowl. She wasn’t. Her goodness and love took precedence over her favorite glass bowl. And, as she watched the doctor suture my foot, her arms wrapped around me.

Even in my sin, God’s love and goodness—His mercy—takes precedence over everything. He follows us all the days of our lives. “Surely to goodness,” you’ll follow, too.

**Side note—That goose became next year’s Thanksgiving bounty.”


Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles are friends and co-founders of ChristianDevotions.us. They co-write the popular He Said, She Said devotions and host BlogtalkRadio's Christian Devotions Speak UP! along with Marianne Jordan.

And now you can catch them each Friday evening at 7 p.m. on He Said, She Said Radio! (Call in number, 646-929-0706 ). They travel with Christian Devotions Ministries teaching the art of writing devotions at writers conferences across the country. Eddie and Cindy are featured in Spirit & HEART: A Devotional Journey.




Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9822065-1-5