Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents
pancakes.  He found a big
bowl an spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and
pulled out the heavy flour
canister, spilling it on the floor.  He scooped some of the flour into the
bowl with his hands, mixed
in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on
the floor which by now had a few
tracks left by his kitten. Brandon was covered with flour and getting
frustrated.  He wanted this to be
something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad.  He didn't
know what to do next,
whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, (and he didn't know
how the stove worked!). Suddenly he
saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away,
knocking the egg carton to
the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but
slipped on the eggs, getting his
pajamas white and sticky.  And just then he saw Dad standing at the door.

Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was
something good, but he'd made a terrible mess. He was sure a
scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched
him. Then, walking through the
mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his
own pajamas white and sticky in the
process.

That's how God deals with us.  We try to do something good in life, but it
turns into a mess. Our marriage
gets all sticky or we insult a friend or we can't stand our job or our
health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't
think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and loves us and
forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him. But just
because we might mess up,
we can't stop trying to "make pancakes, for God or for others.  Sooner or
later we'll get it right, and then they'll be glad we tried.

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