Thank God for Burned Biscuits, Imperfect Things and Imperfect People

George and I have received some wonderful and some funny advice from folks. One of his friends suggested that he always remember the three magic words: "yes, my dear". I got a wonderful note from Patti and Ted Sellman. Ted hand delivered a handkerchief, two candlesticks and two red candles to me the week of our wedding. Patti wrote: "These candlesticks were a wedding gift to us seventy three years ago. I hope you have as many years and are as happy. We still are as polite to each other as we were the first month. We sit in our rockers on our porch and hold hands. We are ninety three and ninety seven." She went on to wish us God's blessing. (George and I had the red candles and silver candle holders on the piano during our wedding.) God has surely blessed us with bringing our lives back together again and he has richly blessed us with good friends, family and the most wonderful church family ever. We give thanks for our many blessings.

Tom Neumyer sent me this story of sage advice from a wise dad.
"When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then and I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing... Never made a face nor uttered a word about it! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, 'Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired, besides - a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!' As I've grown older, I've thought about that night many times.

Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I'm not the best at anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else, but what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. So, please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burned one will do just fine.

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Shalom, Cindy