Some blessings come with a little work attached.
Some opportunities arrive wrapped as gifts.
Others come in the form of an invitation.
And some simply appear before us as a box of tomatoes.
That is exactly what happened to me.
One day, my neighbor and I went to the market we used to shop at. While we were there, we were offered a huge box of tomatoes.
There were so many.
Ripe tomatoes, the kind that couldn’t wait several days for us to decide what to do with them.
My neighbor said she didn’t have time to cook.
I understood.
I worked all day too.
The difference was that when I looked at that box, I didn’t think:
“I don’t have time.”
I thought:
“What can I do with all of this?”
I took all the tomatoes home.
I washed them.
I sorted them.
Some were a little bruised and needed to be used quickly; otherwise, they would rot.
Others were firmer. I put those in the refrigerator, where they could keep for a few more hours without going bad.
I started imagining the possibilities.
I couldn’t take care of everything at once.
So I did what I usually do when I have something big in front of me.
I PLANNED.
First, I decided what I would make.
I decided to turn them into tomato sauce and sun-dried tomatoes.
Then, I calculated how much time it would take to prepare everything.
I divided the work over three evenings.
That very night, I used the ripest tomatoes to make the sauce.
That way, I made sure none of them went to waste.
Then I put the sauce into containers and froze it.
But there was one detail:
I had never made sun-dried tomatoes before.
That didn’t stop me from trying.
I searched for a few recipes online and chose the one that seemed most interesting.
Over the next few evenings, I put the recipe into practice.
Into the oven they went. Then came olive oil, garlic, capers, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and oregano.
And they turned out delicious.
In fact, people who try them often say they have never tasted anything quite like them.
In the end, I created a recipe of my own.
Special. Unique.
And that was when I began to reflect…
How many times does an opportunity appear before us, only for the first thing we notice to be the difficulties?
“I can’t.”
“I don’t have the money.”
“It’s too complicated.”
“Someone else would do it better.”
“Now isn’t the right time.”
And perhaps, sometimes, those answers are true.
But how many things do we let slip away without even asking:
“What could life be trying to show me?”
That box of tomatoes taught me that an opportunity doesn’t have to arrive in a perfect package.
Sometimes, it comes with work.
It can also arrive as a blessing, bringing abundance to our table.
Today, I know we need to be attentive enough to hear when something knocks at our door.
We need to get up and open it.
Otherwise, it may simply walk away.
And perhaps that is what can shape what many people call fate.
An opportunity isn’t only found in what we receive.
It is also found in what we are able to perceive.
Two people can look at the very same situation and find completely different meanings.
One sees a problem.
Another sees a chance.
Perhaps some opportunities are like that.
They arrive quietly.
That doesn’t mean we should embrace everything.
Not every invitation should be accepted.
Not every door needs to be opened.
But before saying “I can’t,” perhaps it’s worth asking one question:
“Could there be a way for me to learn and grow from this?”
https://digitalmehmet.com/author/rschumaher
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Discover more about my journey as a writer in my interview with Dr. Mehmet Yildiz.
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