My Pancakes Taste Sweeter-Perspective

As  I was making pancakes this morning, the same recipe we have made for the past year and a half now, the same recipe that we had started to tire of; they looked so very good to me. Even different. I found myself noticing the details; the things that I noticed the first couple of times that I made them.

Their golden color. Their hearty thickness. The slight smell of toasted almonds from the almond meal.

 I know, I know. They are just pancakes, one might say.
But for me, this morning, they were a healthy, delicious breakfast that I was given the opportunity to prepare and enjoy with my four children. My heart was filled with thankfulness and delight over these pancakes this morning.
How easily and quickly we take things for granted sometimes.

So many are without this morning; without food to eat, without a table to eat their food upon, without a home, without their loved ones, and without the comfort and hope that rests only by resting in the Lord.
Perspective.

Why is it that I get to enjoy this meal with all of my children seated at the table with me? Is it because I am any better?
Absolutely not.
And sometimes I have to fight the urge to feel guilty about this.
But today, I am simply filled with thanksgiving and joy for right now. This day. And all that I have been blessed with this day.


"Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all of the rushing...Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away." (One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp)

We are not promised tomorrow; another day or even another minute. This is not meant to make us sad or anxious but to make us more aware of the things and people right in front of us. It is meant to stir thankfulness within our hearts.
I pray for the many who are hurting and without today. I pray that these tragedies would not be in vain; that people would come to know the infinite love, saving grace, and hope of Jesus Christ. I pray that eyes would be opened and that thankfulness would fill the hearts of many; that less time would be wasted hurrying about this life.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -J.R.R. Tolkien

What will you do with your time today?
-Jenny