Real Progress

Ginger Cookie Peach Cream Pie

Crust:
1 3/4 Cups Ginger Cookies, Finely Ground (I like to use the Brand Back to Nature.  Their triple ginger cookies are perfect for this recipe, and you can use exactly the whole box.)
6 Tbs. Butter, Softened
Blend together in a food processor or high quality blender.  Press into a pie dish to create an even crust.  Bake at 375F for 7 minutes.  Let cool.

Cream Filling:
3 Cups Plain Greek God's Yogurt
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Tbs. Raw Local Honey
Using a hand mixer, combine and whip together in a mixing bowl.  Pour into the pie shell.  Freeze for about an hour, right before you want to serve it.

Peach Topping:
3 Fresh Peaches, Peeled and Sliced
1 tsp Sucanat
1/2 tsp Cinnamon, Ground
Gently fold the cinnamon and sucanat into the peaches until they are fully covered.  Remove the pie from the freezer, and top with the peaches right before serving.  If you're like me, you'll eat half the pie in one sitting, while watching your favorite television series.

"Slow Progress is Lasting Progress"
This is a quote from my favorite T.V. series, "White Collar."  Why do I love this show so much?  I seem to have this thing for characters who are supposed to be bad guys, but they are really good guys.  I love the movie "Bandits," for example.  Also "Time Bandits," and pretty much anything with a "Robin Hood" theme.  I guess I love the idea that someone can always change for the better, no matter how far gone they may seem.  Also, I like to think there is a shard of good in everyone, no matter how bad.  I know, it's idealistic. 

My own progress has been very slow.  I get impatient with it at times.  That, however, all depends on what you call "progress."   I'm so thankful to have kept journals and records.  I can look back and realize that things have actually progressed in the most important ways, at an almost imperceptible rate.  Spiritual growth.  Mental and emotional capacity. Improvement of character.  Improvement in skills.  Improvement in relationships.  Improvement in perspective.  Improvement in parenting.  These types of milestones are often unseen, even by ourselves. 

Recently I was digging through some of my old things for no apparent reason.  I have stacks of journals to be embarrassed about.  They are full of old thoughts, and old boyfriends, and things that reveal my trivial problems when I was younger.  I pulled out an entire journal about when I met my husband, and became engaged, and then got married.  I was relieved, because I didn't think I had written that much about it at the time.  (Being so infatuated with the whole idea of getting married could pull you away from actually recording anything about that important event.)  Then I looked at the next journal.  It was all about my children being born, the places we had lived and moved, and all of the happenings of my life up until about 3 years ago.  Again, I had so much joy knowing I hadn't forgotten to write it all down.  Since then, I've been writing down the wonderful and humorous things my children say, and teach me, in their own personal journals.  I'll give them that record when they leave my nest.  I didn't realize I had done so much record keeping!  How rewarding that was to know I had those writings.  I know someday I'll look back at this blog and laugh at myself then too.  But I'm so glad I can laugh about it, and see how far I've come. 

There is an analogy about climbing a mountain you've probably heard before:  That is, we should not look where we still have yet to plod upward, but we should look back and see how much distance we have traveled.  I can relate to this analogy in a very real way.  I hiked King's Peak in a backpacking group in college.  The hike was harder than I thought it would be, mostly because of the cold rain, a heavy pack, and bad shoes.  It took us about a week to enjoy this trip, and for the most part, I have very fond memories of it.  (Hopefully I wrote all that down somewhere.)  The most prominent memory I have though, was that we had nearly reached the top of the peak.  A storm was coming in.  There were only four of us in the group who decided to go ahead and try to make it to the top.  I wasn't going to come all that way, and then turn around and go home without seeing the top of the peak!  We were scrambling up the shale rock as fast as we could, but my backpacking instructor ordered us to turn around and head back to camp.  Everyone paused.  We were all deciding if we should be obedient.  I chose to obey, probably because of knowing from previous experience that I could likely blow off the mountain in a storm like that, exposed on the top of a peak.  I went back to my tent with the intention of climbing it again in the morning, and then with the intention of going back the next summer to climb it again, and then still today, never making it back to that peak.  I don't regret it though.  I look at that experience as a huge accomplishment. I climbed that mountain.  Almost to the top.  That's pretty awesome. 

"...that by small and simple thing are great things brought to pass;and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."~Alma 37:6