Behold the Wisdom of Tapioca Pudding

It's been a long time since I've managed to cook up a "Behold the Wisdom" post, so if you're fairly new around these parts, you can check out previous posts by clicking HERE.

. . . .

My husband and I both happen to have a weakness for Fluffy Tapioca Pudding.


{photo source}

It might not look like much if you've never experienced its awesomeness, but trust me. It's yummy. So yummy, in fact, that the entire batch gets devoured by just the two of us in one sitting. . . which is horrible when you really get thinking about it. But the insane number of calories my husband and I put away once a month periodically is not what this is post is about. :)

This post is about our first night in the new house {back in April}. We put Hannah down for the night and had nothing else to unpack that classified as a necessity. So what did we do to celebrate the first evening in our very first home? Make tapioca, of course. Because we know how to party.

I was getting all sorts of excited to add inches to my waistline when I suddenly realized that we didn't have any pots.

None.

The pots we used in our apartment belonged to Chuck's grandmother {they were Pampered Chef, see, so we saw no point in buying our own until we moved. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", after all}, so they were left behind. .  . leaving us with nothing but a couple of pans.

We decided to forge ahead with making the tapioca, though, because we're addicted.. I remember thinking, "How much different can it be using a pan instead of a pot?"

Yeah. . . about that.

Since the surface area in a pan is much larger than in a pot, the milk/tapioca concoction came to a boil much faster than normal. At first I thought that was a dream come true because I loathe standing stationary at the stove for forty-eight years, diligently stirring the milk to keep it from scalding.

However, I quickly found out that there's a very important purpose served by all that waiting for the milk to boil. It has to do with turning the tapioca into a pudding. If it boils too quickly, the pudding is a sauce instead.

Not nearly as yummy, folks.

Needless to say, Chuck bought me a nice set of pots within the week. We couldn't let "The Epic Tapioca Failure of 2013" happen twice. No, no.

. . .

Each of us have trials and hardships come sauntering into our lives when we'd very much rather they mind their own business. Some of them get rather comfortable and overstay their welcome. In fact, we might feel like they will never end. . . that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

That is a daunting prospect, to be sure.

So what's a person to do? Give up and live in a hole? Complain to a listening ear? Sue Heavenly Father and ask for a refund? Put on their big girl panties and get over it?

What do you do when you feel like you're being slowly boiled by life?

I know that, personally, I start to get cranky when I feel like I've been saddled with the same hardship for what seems like an eternity. . . just like I start to get cranky when I'm standing at the stove stirring my tapioca for forever and a day. I don't like feeling like I'm not accomplishing anything and waiting for milk to boil or a trial to pass can test my limits if I'm feeling particularly impatient to begin with.

But if "The Epic Tapioca Failure of 2013" taught me anything, it's that boiling my milk faster than what is recommended results in a mediocre product.

The Lord has a design for each of us and an end-product that far exceeds our greatest hopes. However, if we insist on cutting our "boiling time" in half, then we consequently compromise that end-product. We can't be made into pudding if we don't let the trials run their course. We'll only end up a soupy mess, instead.

So if you currently find yourself being boiled and you're getting pretty tired, take courage. Have a little faith that He knows what He's doing and he won't let you scald on the stove. I promise you from experience that He knows your personal recipe by heart. Trust Him. It takes time to boil into a delicious pudding.

. . .

"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." -- Mosiah 23:21

"My son {daughter}, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." -- D&C 121: 7-8

And last but not least, James E. Faust eloquently shared this little pearl in "The Refiner's Fire":

"Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner's fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd."   {read the rest of the article HERE if you need more uplifting-- it's absolutely amazing!}