Today we are journeying down memory lane to share some special times together…
I have brewed strawberry tea & today’s treat is my own homemade Gf banana muffin (Recipes), warmed & spread with lashings of Lf butter which is slowly melting upon its deliciousness…
On sipping the tea it is a refreshingly sweet peppery blend which is mellowed by a mouthful of the banana muffin, a very satisfying combination! A ‘mmmmm’ is heard as it involuntary leaves my lips…shall we walk down memory lane together…
Several years ago my youngest daughter invited me over to her home for afternoon tea, it was Mother’s day. When I arrived my grandchildren met me at the door very excited. As I walked into the house I could see why…a beautiful setting was set before me, my daughter had prepared a delicious High Tea, there were two double tiered servers laden with delicious treats! Mini quiches, petite triangle sandwiches, mini cupcakes, cookies & picklets with homemade strawberry jam. There were several choices of tea, beautiful antique cups & saucers, teapots, sugar bowl & milk jug & bunches of my favorite flowers placed on the table. She had gone to a great deal of effort freshly baking all the treats herself, bought & borrowed serving items & planned this special surprise gift for weeks…
We enjoyed the delicious treats, tea & special time of love together as we chatted & laughed over silly family things. I felt so blessed that she had planned this out & had done all this work to specially honor me on Mothers day. When I left to travel home later that afternoon, my heart was full of joy & gladness…
I enjoyed it so much that I decided to do the same for my dear friend….You may like to meet her in Heart matters!.. as a gift for her 60th birthday. I prepared all her favorite treats…I set the table in our front garden under our pergola with my best linen, antique crockery & silverware…All was set & looked amazing! I was so excited to finally have all the planning & preparation done!
She arrived &….we started this special birthday luncheon…but things didn’t go as planned…it was a really hot February’s day & our neighbors had decided to locate their compost bin right beside our front outdoor seating area, on their side of the fence & place very smelly kitchen scraps in there just before we sat down to enjoy all our goodies!
We ended up having to transfer everything indoors because of the offensive odor & the plague of flies that were attracted to it…but it actually ended up being cooler indoors & we continued our time together feeling less harassed by the heat & the flies…
After she left I sat….feeling rather disappointed at the chain of events that had unfolded that morning, feeling that it had not been the special gift I had envisaged & planned to give to my dear friend on her birthday…
While I was sitting there reflecting, I heard a message come in on my phone, it was from my friend…thanking me for the time spent in creating the High Tea luncheon, stating that she felt so honored that I had made her birthday special & how much she had enjoyed it!
Sometimes things don’t go as planned…do they…no matter how much planning, organization, effort, desire, passion or prayer we have put into it…Life just doesn’t go as we had hoped…We can get understandably disappointed in the outcome or we can choose to see it through different eyes…You see, my friend had not known what plans I had had for the experience…apart from the smelly compost…she didn’t know it had not gone as I had envisaged! But viewing it through her eyes it had been an absolutely enjoyable success!
What are we viewing through our own clouded perceptions that have become burdensome…Just like the hot sweltering day & smelly scraps….We can’t control the world around us, but we can control our actions, reactions, attitudes & behaviors to every & any situation in our lives…it’s all in the way we view it!
I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened, so you may know the hope of His calling… Refer
Until next time….
Jennifer
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