The ingredients of our life can lead to joy if we look at them from God’s viewpoint.
I am reminded of the family that sat down to a meal with their grandpa and dad, an old farmer. The farmer was asked to ask the blessing on the breakfast of biscuits and gravy. They bowed their heads as the elderly farmer prayed:
“Lord, I don’t like the taste of flour. It would choke me if I tried to eat it by itself. I can’t imagine trying to eat a chunk of lard by itself. Baking powder is the nastiest tasting stuff if I ate a spoonful of it. Salt wouldn’t satisfy my hunger at all. But if I mix all these things together, they make the best biscuits I have ever eaten. So, I thank you for the flour, the lard, the baking powder, and the salt. But I thank you even more that you have brought them together to make this wonderful blessing of biscuits and gravy. Lord, as we sit together at this table, we are all going through different circumstances in our lives right now. But you have brought us together as a blended family. So, I ask that you help us to thank you for the circumstances in each of our lives that have brought us together at this moment. AMEN