I love my crock pot. I think it’s neat how you can throw a few ingredients in there, turn the pot on, and come back later to find a nice, homemade dinner all ready for you. So yesterday morning, before church, I assembled the ingredients for a new macaroni-and-Velveeta cheese dish, doubled the recipe, and put them all into the crock pot. I pushed “low” and prepared to collect all the brownie points I knew my kids would send my way when we sat down to eat in a few hours.
I had to stay home from church with Ellie, who was suffering from allergies. So I peered through the crock pot lid a few times. Hmm, doesn’t look like the milk is thickening very much, I mused each time. Oh, well. Maybe it just needs more time.
My husband and other children arrived home from church. “Mmmm, what smells so good?” the kids asked.
“Macaroni,” I said smugly. They cheered as I prepared to serve it up.
The only problem was that it still didn’t look very thick. Sure, it had improved some, but I like my macaroni to be super thick, as in absolutely-no-liquid-at-all thick, and there was definitely liquid there. “Honey, it didn’t turn out!” I moaned to my husband outside the kids’ hearing. “I don’t know what happened, but there’s still liquid in it.”
“Call it ‘macaroni soup’,” my husband responded. “You know, ‘when life gives you lemons’….”
The kids loved Mommy’s Cheesy Macaroni Soup. “Wow, this tastes just like regular macaroni and cheese!” they said. (“Um, yeah. It’s pretty similar,” I said.)
So, thanks to my husband’s quick thinking, we had a great and somewhat exotic (“I’ve never had this before!” Kenny exclaimed) meal. We all enjoyed it. And Mommy still got those brownie points.
How different things would have been had I decided that because the meal didn’t turn out the way I planned, it was no good. I would have been bummed, and I probably would have presented the macaroni to the kids while saying something like, “I’m sorry it has so much liquid. You can just eat the macaroni pieces if you want.” They would have taken my cue that there was something wrong with it, and they wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as they did when I offered it to them as something special.
I wonder how much enjoyment you and I miss out on in life because things don’t turn out quite the way we planned. Many times when something doesn’t work out, we see that as negative instead of looking for the positive in the situation. For example, I wanted to go to church this morning. My daughter’s having allergies prevented that. But if I had focused on what I was missing by not being at church, I also would have missed the pleasure of spending quiet, uninterrupted time with her doing some of our favorite quiet activities together. I would have missed the gift God was offering because I was stuck on not having gotten the one I hoped for.
What is there in your life right now that might be an unexpected gift instead of the disaster it seems to be? Even if it is partially a disaster, might there also be something good you can get out of it? Sure, you wouldn’t have chosen this situation, but you’ve got it, so instead of focusing on the fact that it’s not what you wanted, maybe you could cooperate with God’s desire to redeem it in your life by asking Him what good He wants to give you in the midst of the bad.
I’m not saying to sweep your pain under the rug. After all, you’re well aware there’s too much liquid in the macaroni. But you can choose your perspective. You can either see it as an unmitigated disappointment, or you can decide that even though it’s not what you hoped, it can still, in some ways, be a good thing.
And sometimes, macaroni soup turns out to be more fun than plain old macaroni anyway.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
