Make something good with what you were given

She called the Extension Office at least once a week, her request a little different each time.

“I have oatmeal and raisins,” she’d begin. “What can I make?”

The next week, she might have hamburger and cornmeal. It was our job to find something she could make given what she had in the cabinets.

That’s all we can all do, whether we’re making supper or making life.

We have to work with what we’ve got.

Sure, it would be easier if we had tons of money or talent, but most of us don’t, so get on with doing what you have to do with what you have.

I would love to be able to draw, but I can’t draw a crooked line. No matter how much I try, it’s not inside me. Wishing on a star won’t make it come true. But, I can paint a picture with my words, so that’s what I have to work with.

Those are the ingredients of my recipe. What’s yours?

All of us have something in the cabinet — something to add to the recipe.

Maybe it’s as simple as a smile. Do you know how far a simple smile can go in this world? Try showing it at the nursing home, and you’ll know its value.

We don’t have to change the world, just our little piece of it.

I believe God gave us all the ingredients to have the things we want, to have peace on earth — the cure to disease, the solution to hunger, the remedy for sadness — right here under our noses.

He filled our cabinets. We just have to come up with the recipe.

“If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.” — Fay Weldon