Cranberry Relish Anxiety

Every Thanksgiving in Argentina all the American missionaries get together for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Since this is a North American holiday, all the ladies have to really make an effort to prepare food that is not particularly common in South America. One makes pumpkin pies totally from scratch. (None of that canned stuff here!) Another special orders a turkey from the butcher, only to be presented with Cornish hens the day prior to Thanksgiving. One lady goes to great expense to buy pecans for her husband's favorite pecan pie. My husband will actually pit several cups of cherries so I can make him a homemade cherry pie. The one dish that always makes me chuckle is the cranberry relish. Why? Because cranberries do not exist in this country! Most Argentines have never even heard of the fruit. However, there is always one who does her best to use substitutes to make something of a relish that tastes nothing like cranberries only because that's the way it's always been. You just can't have Thanksgiving without cranberry relish!

The other day I found myself concocting my own recipe for cranberry relish. Yes, I know it's nowhere near Thanksgiving, but it was really the same concept. As our departure date draws near for returning to Argentina, I realized that I had not taken my children for their annual birthday pictures. In fact, I was a year overdue with our oldest child. We live in the age of digital cameras - still and video, so it's not like my child was not photographed at some point during his eighth year of life. My anxiety was due to the fact that I had always taken my kids to be photographed near their birthday...that's the way it's always been. The Lord gently rebuked me by reminding me of the cranberry relish and I realized that I was actually fretting over the unimportant and I had to ask my Heavenly Father for His forgiveness. I put my focus back on all the good things that He has blessed me with. Just because it's always been a certain way doesn't mean that is God's best for our lives. So, the moral of the story is, "Don't eat fake cranberry relish when God has something much better for you."

By the way, I did get out my digital camera and the Lord gave me a great photo (even better than the pro's!) of our now nine year-old, Jaden.

May you also experience the abundant blessings found in God's grace,

Amy