A Can of Beans

I attended a church dinner and tasted the best salad I had ever eaten.  I could have eaten it with a spoon and just ignored whatever else was on the table.  It was a bean salad, and I had to meet with the woman who put it together.

“It’s a combination of various beans,” the young mother told me.  “It is very easy, and the recipe is on the back of the can of beans.”  I made a mental note to buy the specific can of beans.

A week later the young woman stopped me at church and presented me with a can of beans.  I thanked her and left with the most wonderful feeling about her.

Two or so months later I heard that through an accident the young woman had broken her pelvic bone and was bedridden.  With a husband and two pre-teen children I knew life would be difficult for her.  So I prepared a complete meal, and I added a big stack of homemade flour tortillas.  A week later I took her another stack of flour tortillas and cookies.  I also told her that I favored the tortillas because it was so easy to make a meal by just placing something like a scrambled egg or sausage or just about anything in the tortilla and folding it.  Presto, a meal.  She said they had come to realize that and were so grateful to me.

Isn’t it amazing how far a can of beans can take you?

Failures versus Successes

Several years ago I picked up my husband's instruction book on taking pictures.  I read the most amazing statement.  It said something like this: "As you begin taking pictures do not be discouraged when you see the professional work of some photographers.  They have discarded their bad pictures and just publish their good ones.  Just keep on working on your skill."

Of course...I said to myself;  that makes sense.  I began to generalize that information into other settings.  I love to sew, but I would not show you my failures.  Those I place in a bag and get rid of.  Then I show my good work.
I've had people tell me...you are really good at this.  I always reassure them that anyone could do what I do.  It requires a love of the skill and an investment of time.

To take this to another level...I try not to dwell on my failures in any area.  Those I try to learn from and then put aside.  Instead I seek to improve in the areas I work.  I hope I always show you my good work.  I try.