I wish I knew the author of this story so that I could properly credit this wise person. The best I can do is credit it to our old friend Anonymous.

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.
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 biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits. Don’t be sorry.”

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. And besides – a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!”

Life is full of imperfect things… and imperfect people.

…learning to accept each others’ faults – and choosing to celebrate each others’ differences – is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. 

I’m not the best at hardly 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 others’ faults – and choosing to celebrate each others’ differences – is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that’s the story, a story about biscuits. In a larger sense, it’s a story about priorities.

Gratitude: Little Challenges Remind Us of Big Blessings

On Thanksgiving, we celebrate a tradition begun by a people who faced far worse challenges than burned biscuits. Somehow, they were able to focus more on gratitude and less on the tragedy they had faced.

What a great reminder that everyone is fighting his or her own battle and may be doing the best that can be expected under the circumstances. Little things often become bigger things than they should. Perspective promotes gratitude.

Focus on What Matters

Following Thanksgiving, we enter what will be the busiest month of the year for most of us. Whether it’s a time of joy or a time of stress depends more on our approach to the season than on the actual responsibilities that face us.

We won’t finish our “to-do” list every day, but that’s OK. The purpose of the list never was to “get it all done.” Its purpose is to trap all our choices in one place so that we can make the best choice in the moment.

There’s not enough time for everything. But there’s plenty of time for what matters if we focus and forget the minor irritations. Plenty of people around the globe would trade places with us in a heartbeat, burned biscuits and all. There’s plenty of time to count our blessings. There’s plenty of time to be a blessing. Practice gratitude. Go and make today count.    

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