While travelling on a flight last year, I casually took the shortbread biscuits [cookies] offered to me by the stewardess. The shortbread was especially good, and I turned over the package and began reading about the ingredients. Here’s what it said:
“The Isle of Mull is renowned for wild and unspoilt landscapes and its welcoming islanders. It’s our home and where we make these particularly characterful biscuits.
We mix only the best organic ingredients and bake them using unique ovens that are heated by Mull’s plentiful renewable timber. Like our organic ingredients this is not only environmentally sustainable, but the gentle heat gives a slow, perfect bake.
Our mixers whizz with clean hydro-electricity generated on the Tobermary River that flows past our bakery. This works best on Mull’s frequent rainy days . . . every cloud has a biscuit lining.”
I love it! “Every cloud has a biscuit lining.” I like it even better than the old cliché: “Every cloud has a silver lining.” I love biscuits [cookies] and cakes and this little line really resonated with me.
I have a lesson entitled, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” All of us go through trials and tough times. It’s just life, whether you’re saved or unsaved. The question is: do the rainy days and clouds bring about something sweet in my life? Do I make lemonade with the “lemons” in my life?
My desire is that when people observe my life that they will want to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” I want the bad times in my life to make me better, not bitter. When life throws me a lemon, I want to get all the juice out of it and then throw away the rind. Some people chew on lemon rinds for years, never getting over the bad times and constantly reliving them.
Yes, Scotland has lots of rainy days. We also have lots of “clouds”, both naturally and figuratively. I’m going to keep looking for that biscuit lining!
I’m going to keep praying for my children and grandchildren through the good times and the bad. My desire is to be there to encourage them and cheer them on when they’re going through tough times and to humbly be grateful when they are going through times of blessing.
Until I draw my last breath, I will keep praying daily for our children, their spouses and our grandchildren that they will walk in Truth, holiness and integrity all the days of their lives AND that they will love it. Some only walk in obedience, but I want my family to also LOVE Truth, holiness and integrity.
When you get discouraged and the clouds block your view of the “Son”, remember that with every cloud there can be a “biscuit lining”. Hold on in prayer. Never give up!
By Jerolyn Kelley