Black-eyed peas??? Nah, don't need em', I've got God!

Growing up I had several “rules” I had to follow…Do not open your umbrella in the house, do not lay your hat on the bed, double back and go a mile out of the way if a black cat crosses your path, and eat your black-eyed peas on New Year’s day, to name a few.  Yes, my dad put the “super” in superstitious.  I’m not sure, but I think it goes back to his Native American upbringing and my Grandpa Bruner.  Well, this is something that I have held onto as well….not so much the black-eyed peas cause I am not a big fan, but most everything else.  My husband gets incredibly irritated at me when I freak out at finding his hat on my bed.  I have told him a million times NOT to do it because it is bad luck, but then he scolds me by saying that as a Christian I shouldn’t be superstitious, which I fully agree, but I just can’t seem to get over it.  Well, imagine my surprise when my perfect non-superstitious husband HAS TO HAVE black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day…and not only that, he makes everyone else eat them as well.  SMH..(that means Shaking my head – this knowledge I got from Facebook)

 Anyway, I decided to do a little research on exactly why we are supposed to eat black-eyed peas, I mean, if there is an actual “reason” why we do something that makes it right….right????  I am not sure how accurate my sources are because I just “Googled” it, but for the most part several sites were saying the same two things.  One thought was that it was a Jewish tradition to be eaten at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, as recorded in the Babylonian blah blah blah..(blah blah blah – means there were a bunch of words and stuff I didn’t understand).  The other thought was that it came from the Civil war era, when the Union troops came through and stripped the southern countryside of all the food, crops and livestock, and destroyed whatever they could not carry away. (so says Wikipedia) At that time, the “Northerners” considered these field peas only suitable for the animals to eat and did not take the time to steal or destroy these humble foods.  (Humble…now we’re talking!  I love the word humble, and I would SO love to be it, this is my daily struggle, along with the superstitions of course.)  This was what was left for the struggling south to eat, but little did those northerners know that they were jammed packed with nutrients.  Black-eyed peas became a major food source for surviving confederates. 

While I love that this little legume has some history and tradition behind it, I feel that we should not place our good luck and livelihood on this humble little bean, but rather put our hope into a humble man who came to the earth to die for each and every one of us.  As I was doing my research, the bridge to the song, “Praise You in this Storm” from Casting Crowns kept going through my mind (God speaks to me through song A LOT)…It says, “I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, The Maker of Heaven and Earth”.  This was not written by Casting Crowns, it actually came from God, via David in Psalm 121.  Go ahead and take the time to look up the whole thing…It’s a good readJ  Don’t look for hope or prosperity in the wrong places. Our hope comes from God and God alone.  I want to end with one of my favorite verses Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  No mention of a bean there my friends….God Luck to you this yearJ