Homemade granola and yogurt for breakfast?
Surely this is a check me out winning at life post…
Not so much. But we’ll get to the granola.
Considering only yesterday I was talking about the desire to be real and honest on social media but not being sure how to go about it without turning a post into “let’s all feel sorry for me” I find it delightful that today I can share how life isn’t always peachy.
So. We’re attempting to emigrate. The kids and I got our visas this morning - win! Except it has a condition on it that would mean we’d need to leave the UK before the end of the school term - lose! That would mean missing weddings, family holidays, precious time booked with loved ones before we go. It’s not the end of the world in that we will be able to change the dates (probably) for a fee (per person). On top of solicitor stuff for selling a house, children management (who knew it was such hard work - their socials lives are crazy), lack of sleep, full on husband schedule at the moment, this was kinda the last thing I wanted to receive. Another hurdle, another set of paperwork, another job to add to the very long list, another cost...
So what’s the granola about? Well - my granola (despite being delicious) was supposed to be more like granola slices / flapjack style baked goods for the kids bake off competition at school today. It didn’t work. My culinary skills were not up to scratch and so granola slices became granola. I could have posted about lovely granola - that wouldn’t have been the full story.
Here’s the lesson in it. It’s not about if life deals you bad days or things go wrong. Things will go wrong. Stuff will break, things won’t work, people will let you down, visas will have the wrong dates on them, granola slices won’t set... What matters is what you do in those moments. How you look at a situation and take what you have to turn it into something good. Broken slices don’t have to stay broken slices, they can be shaken up, redistributed, stuck back in the oven and become a delicious granola. Life doesn’t always happen the way we want it to or expect it to, but we do have a choice with what we’ve been given, and we are responsible for our attitude in those moments. And sometimes, working with the broken pieces that we’ve got can actually lead to something else that is beautiful in its own right.
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The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 28:7
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
