When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

That evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of sandwiches 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.”

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 really very tired, and besides — a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone! You know life is full of things that are not perfect. People think they are perfect. I’m not the best in everything myself and over the years I’ve noticed that your mother learned to accept all my faults, and still chooses to pay attention to all my good qualities. Finding a line connecting our differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy atmosphere and long-term relationships.” 

I learned from my father that life is too short to bother with trifles and to love the people who treat you favorably.   

Lesson:

Life is full of imperfections — imperfect things and imperfect people. Nobody is perfect in this world and we are all bound to commit mistakes more often than not. Many of us are not the best at many things, and we tend to forget birthdays, anniversaries etc. But the most important thing we have to learn over the years is to accept each other’s faults and choose to celebrate each other’s differences and enjoy each other’s successes. It is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

That should be our prayer for today. That we will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give us a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn’t a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the foundation of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or brother-sister or friendship!

It is up to us to make the environment we live in and the relationship with people we associate with and share our life with, a joyful experience.