Sometimes, it just takes the right blend of ingredients to make us flourish.
I’m excited to share a bit of success I found today in the delicious results of a very hard-to-work-with ingredient. After a few failed attempts, I realize that if an ingredient is deemed difficult to work with, such a label has only been earned because I haven’t yet found the magical combination to make it flourish.
I’ve been given an ingredient to work with that is pretty dull. It doesn't actually do what it's supposed to do, and can be a little dry and heavy by nature. Overall, I’ve avoided working with it much at all because the results either end up in the trash or handed off to my chickens (poor gals).
Today, I decided to go with its natural attributes. I was determined to make it work in a recipe. Instead of trying so hard to change its natural habit, I enhanced it. Accentuated it. Used it to my advantage by working it in with other ingredients that brought it to life without making it something it wasn’t.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
I wish I could apply this same lesson to everyone I meet.
I want to remember that everyone has a story. Everyone has come from SOMEwhere, and if we find someone's natural attributes “a little difficult to work with," maybe even a little dry or off-putting, perhaps it’s because they just need the right combination of ingredients to make them flourish. Maybe all the elements they’ve been blended with in life has stifled their purpose and their ability to shine.
God put so much careful thought into making each one of us. I believe we’re to lift each other up, to build, to grow and to bring to life. To work WITH the natural qualities we each possess – not against them. Before the swirl of judgmental thoughts, let's. Show. Grace... that we may enjoy the perfect balance of just the right ingredients that produce delicious results.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
