How Are Your Pancakes Tasting?
When I was a little girl, we would visit my Grandmother in Pennsylvania twice a year. It was one of my favorite things to do in all the world. I dearly loved Grandma and every moment with her was precious to me.
On one particular trip, we were getting ready for bed. My Grandma wasn’t the greatest cook but made a few things well. She announced to everyone that she was making pancakes for breakfast. My dad was thrilled. This was a good sign. Breakfast was going to be amazing! I went to bed excited.
I usually was the first one up after Grandma and headed to the table where I knew I would find her sipping her instant coffee (Bless her heart). There was an unfamiliar smell. ( Although my eyesight stinks and my hearing isn’t fantastic, I can smell.) This smell made me a bit nervous. Grandma said she had the batter ready but wouldn’t start making the pancakes until others started getting up.
By the time they were up, I was so hungry. She started cooking, and I went from concerned to scared. She had to have messed this up royally. But my Dad was still excited. I just didn’t understand. When I cut into my pancake and took my first bite, I nearly spit it out of my mouth. I am trying desperately to swallow my bite when my dad says, “I haven’t had Buckwheat pancakes in years! Thanks, Mom!” Still, to this day, I am not sure what Buckwheat is, but I still think it’s nasty. Very nasty.
This was a situation of preconceived notions. I thought pancakes were Bisquick pancakes, so I expected the same. I didn’t even know there were other kinds.
When God’s people were waiting for a Savior and holding on to prophecies about the coming one, I am sure they had little expectation of him coming as a newborn baby. I mean, how could they have known? They wouldn’t have.
As I am thinking about Buckwheat pancakes, I am left wondering about other situations in my life. When I made a list of the kind of man I wanted to marry, I had no idea he would be Taylor. He didn’t seem to fit the list. My ideas were inferior to the gift God gave me, and I might have missed him if I wasn’t willing to flex on my list.
Sometimes, what we think doesn’t line up with our experiences. And sometimes, as with the pancakes, that can be disappointing. But other times, what we expect ends up paling in comparison. What he gives us far exceeds our expectations!
We just have to live life loosely. We need to trust the Lord and surrender our situations to him. He can take the unexpected and turn it into something that blesses us more than we could have ever imagined.
But sometimes there will be Buckwheat. There just will. There will be people we think are good, trustworthy people who make bad choices. We have to hold this loosely, too. We must forgive and keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the one who won’t disappoint. (Except when it SEEMS like he does.) There are situations in this dark and messed-up world that will try to cause us to believe that God has overlooked us or doesn’t love us anymore. And in those places, we bring that nasty Buckwheat to him and ask him to help us understand. He will. He loves us, and he promises to never leave us or forsake us.
So whether you are getting what you expect in this life or not I just want to encourage you that some days the pancakes will be nasty…but some days they will be delicious. So don’t give up on those bad days. Just keep your eyes on Jesus and keep on stepping. Keep your Mrs. Butterworth handy because you will need it eventually.
