Try again (the peaches story)

When was the last time you had one of those “I can’t do anything right!!! 😭” days?

Mine was last Saturday.

I’ve decided to learn and preserve as much food as I have the resources and energy for, so I was excited to see the beginning-of-the-season baskets of peaches at the farmers market in the morning. I got a half bushel, planning to start my fall canning season that afternoon.

After lunch, I got right to work.

• I googled how many quarts I should get from that half bushel of peaches (8-10).
• I washed jars and set them in the oven to stay warm.
• I pulled out my trusty Ball canning recipe book, and read and re-read and re-read the instructions.
• I debated and debated between canning in water or canning in syrup.
• Chose to do a light honey syrup. Made the syrup. Almost overflowed the pan, but made it work.
• I pulled out a large stockpot and made a mixture of citric acid and water, for holding the newly sliced peaches before they were ready to go into the jars.
• I brought another pot of water to a boil for blanching the peaches, and filled the sink with ice water.

FINALLY I thought everything was ready, so I checked the clock, took a big breath, and dipped a half dozen peaches in the boiling water for about 45 seconds, then transferred them to the ice water.

Right away I knew something was wrong (thankfully I didn’t immediately add more peaches to the boiling water). I picked up the first blanched peach and attempted to slip the skin off, like the recipe said to do.

The skin wouldn’t budge. Neither would the next one. Or any of them.

I hadn’t ever thought to check if the peaches were actually ripe enough for canning.

I angrily drained the ice water, shut off the boiling water, dumped the citric acid water, and found a container to store the syrup in the fridge. I pushed the basket of peaches out of the way.

Then I went into my bedroom and cried.

How is it that one mess-up can ruin our whole day and make us feel worthless?

I had had a great morning. I had some quiet time to myself since everyone else slept in (important for this introvert). I took my oldest daughter school supply shopping, then went to the market together, and overall we had some awesome, much needed, one-on-one time. We had delicious leftover pizza for lunch. It was a beautiful day, not too hot for working in the kitchen.

But lying there in bed that afternoon, face in the pillow, all I could think about were the ways I’d screwed up over the past few weeks.

Poorly parenting a stubborn 3-year-old. Choosing to scroll social media instead of writing. Not making time for consistent exercise. Ways I’d handled things poorly at church. Not knowing how to help my anxious 8-year-old. So many weeds in the garden. Being lazy about having good conversations with my husband. And when was the last time the bathrooms were cleaned??

Eventually I tried to take a deep breath and push the nagging thoughts aside long enough to pray. Then I rolled over, grabbed my book, and lost myself in someone else’s story for almost an hour.

When I emerged from the bedroom, I smiled sheepishly at my husband and said I was sorry for overreacting (he smiled back). I finished cleaning up the kitchen and started thinking ahead to dinner. I looked at the basket of peaches, deciding simply to try again on Monday.

And that’s the lesson isn’t it? If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. In so many things in life, we get a second chance. And even a third and a fourth or more.

Every morning I wake up knowing it’s a fresh, new day. A chance to start over and try again. “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT)

I’ll have plenty more opportunities to parent my kids. I can spend a few minutes a day pulling weeds, or wait and have a massive cleanout while listening to podcasts. And look, today I wrote a blog post instead of scrolling Instagram. 🙂

It’s okay to feel those deep, unsatisfied feelings for a bit. Maybe even take a nap or do something mindless. But try to then move on, let it go, shake it off. Move your body, do something productive, attempt to rationally identify those lies your feelings were attempting to tell you (“I can’t do anything right!!” … ). Pick yourself up, and try try again.

When Monday afternoon rolled around, I gently squeezed a few peaches and knew they were ripe. I set up the kitchen quickly (since I knew what I was doing this time!), and jumped right in.

About halfway through the basket, I started having a harder time skinning the peaches. Turned out the ones in the bottom weren’t nearly as ripe as the ones at the top. #facepalm

But I pushed through, using a knife to finish peeling. It probably took twice as long to finish the basket as it should have, but I didn’t give up. And now I have 9 beautiful quarts of peaches to show for my persistence.

Do you find yourself struggling with “I can’t do anything right?” Feel it, identify the lies, get some rest, then push forward and try try again.