When You are Handed a Whole Ham

When You are Handed a Whole Ham, Shattered to the Bone

By Vickie G. Paver

While checking the ham for Christmas dinner, Abigail thought how wonderful it smelled. Her son, the chef for this Christmas dinner, had carefully stuck cloves in the ham for added flavor and made a pineapple-ginger sauce to serve on the side. The delicious smells had brightened a somewhat less than perfect Martha Stewart Christmas. Sometimes Abigail's expectations for Christmas were too high---in that she thought they should be a "Martha" Christmas and in reality she knew this truly was a celebration for Christ's birth and He alone is perfect. However, Abigail thought even though other things didn't go as expected that they would at least have a wonderful Christmas dinner. Peering at the ham in the oven, both Abigail and her son thought the ham was getting a little dry, so they decided a little water needed to be added to the dish.

Abigail went back into the living room. Just as she was getting ready to sit down she heard a terrible explosion of sorts. The look on her son's face told her that the ham was ruined! The glassware dish that the ham was in had exploded all over the oven when he added the water. Glass chunks, pieces, slivers and glass dust were sprayed all over the ham and the inside of the oven. Her son felt bad, but Abigail immediately thought about a saying that she had heard about life's mishaps. "If you are handed a lemon in life, make lemonade." So Abigail and her family made a wonderful dinner, minus the ham and felt blessed.

The next day Abigail had the chore of dismantling the oven and cleaning up the mess. While vacuuming the glass dust from inside the oven Abigail thought about that saying again, "when handed a lemon in life, make lemonade." Then a deeper thought came to the surface in the form of a question. What do you do when handed a whole ham, penetrated to the bone from a shattering? Such as the death of a child or spouse or hearing for the first time that you have cancer or some other incurable disease. How does the human soul respond? Abigail thought, you couldn't just add water and sugar to make lemonade. A shattering pierces to the bone and things can never be put back the same. It forever changes your life.

As Abigail continued cleaning the oven she knew that God allows these "shatterings" for whatever reason He may have…she surely did not understand. This she knew though, that God comes to the very depth of the soul and He gives "hope" to the soul that is shattered.

Once again Abigail is grateful for the things that God gave her yesterday, on Christmas day. She understands that whatever she is handed in life, lemons---or hams shattered to the bone, that God's love for her never changes and He is in control. And she knows that she can move into an uncertain New Year with hope and confidence.

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