Bear Meat Fried In Bear Grease

Bear Meat Fried in Bear Grease

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. Philippians 4:11

Have you ever committed to an assignment you later regretted? I have. I remember the bookstore job my husband and I accepted years ago at our favorite Bible conference. I anticipated a summer of joyful ministry. Instead, I was surprised to learn how rude and impatient even Christians can be. Although we had made a commitment for the remainder of the summer, I started counting the days until we could go home. Still twenty-eight more to go—four more weeks of disappointment and homesickness.

Early one August morning, I hugged my Bible and spoke aloud, “Lord, you know how miserable I am. What do I do now?”

I steadied myself for the expected reminder about how “God causes everything to work together for the good,” from Romans 8:28. Instead, the phrase bear meat popped into my head.

Bear meat? Where did that come from? Then I remembered the story a long-ago Sunday school teacher had told:

“An old trapper, snowbound in his cabin, couldn’t get fresh supplies. For days, he ate nothing but bear meat fried in bear grease. Finally, he prayed for the Lord to give him something he could really enjoy. Know what the Lord gave him? Bear meat fried in bear grease!”

Even though I wasn’t ready to shout, “I love it here!” I did smile at the reminder of the difference the trapper’s change of attitude made. I had no choice but to work on my attitude as well.

First, I asked the Lord to help me to be grateful for what I could and to give me the strength to ignore the rest. I started by making a game out of smiling at rude customers. Then I looked for something each day for which I could be thankful.

Sometimes those thankful moments came through conversations with a speaker I admired. But most often they came through simple joys I had previously ignored. Suddenly even watching the progress of ripening blackberries along the path to the store brought happiness.

Gradually, the twenty-eight days passed. Yes, I was happy to go home, but I was also wiser. I finally had realized that even when we must wade through disappointment, the Lord is with us. And he can take the tedium of “bear meat” and turn it into a feast if we will ask him to. —SANDRA

Lord, I confess I want what I want. Help me to rejoice in what I have. And help me to look for the things for which I can be thankful despite the circumstances.

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.

—HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807–1882), AMERICAN POET