Pancakes & Bicycles

Yesterday morning Facebook and Timehop reminded me of a status I posted three years ago:

“Eating pancakes while Daddy fixes the bicycle chain . . .”

It was about a week later that I felt led to explain further what the status meant.  As I was reminded of the status yesterday, I found I was able to remember the bicycle chain analogy but could not for the life of me recall the signifigance of pancakes!  So I searched back through the archives of Facebook for my post from three years ago and I am sharing it for you below.

I posted this as a status nearly a week ago and would like to explain what it means to me.  It is actually the combination of two different things I have read that have really stood out to me.  The first is written by Richard J. Foster as the forward to Brennan Manning’s book “Ruthless Trust.”  The second comes from an explanation of my favorite scripture posted by Dan Webb as a status update on July 29.  I shared his status as soon as I read it because it spoke such life to me.  Here are the passages below:

EATING PANCAKES (by Richard J. Foster)

When our children were young I would sometimes rise early on a Saturday morning and fix them pancakes for breakfast.  It was all great fun – the broken eggs, the split milk, the batter and the chatter.  They loved pancakes – even my pancakes – and they would wolf them down quickly.  I would often watch in astonishment at their greedy eating.  Not once did I see either of them slipping a few pancakes under the table, stuffing them in their pockets thinking: “I don’t know about Dad.  Maybe there won’t be any pancakes tomorrow and so I’d better get myself a little stash in case.”  Not once did they ask me about the price of eggs or my ability to secure enough milk for tomorrow.  No, as far as they were concerned there were an endless supply of pancakes.  They lived, you see, in trust.

WHILE DADDY FIXES THE BICYCLE CHAIN (by Dan Webb)

Over last weekend I was privileged to speak about Isa. 40:31. I focused on the word “wait”. Many people just focus on the reward of waiting, but the waiting is the part that is misunderstood…the part that many wonderful people need a clearer picture of. I do believe what He gave me was a revelation. When we “wait” on the Lord…there is actually a better way to say what the scripture says. It is not spoken as a mandate for discipline. Rather it is spoken like a Father that is making adjustments to his little one’s bicycle. He sees something that needs an adjustment so that the little one will “soar” on the new little bike. Likewise, the Father often says, “Dan, if you wait…I am going to make adjustments so that in the situation you will “soar”. ” When I spoke I likened my job to a person in a large skyscraper that worked in the mail room down in the very bottom of the building. The CEO , our God, has an office that is higher than the heaven’s. His SON is in the same office…constantly making intercession for His children. So now the application…when I am waiting it is a glorious exercise. The Father and Son are working on a solution that will make the situation I am in “soar”. I am glad to wait. I know that all the previous times He was superb at making “vulture” circumstances into “eagle” triumphs.

So, there you have it.   Two modern-day parables to illustrate a simple truth that Jesus shared in Matthew 6:25-30:

²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? ²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? ³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

So, I invite you to eat your pancakes.  In fact, don’t just eat them, enjoy them!  Daddy’s prepared them to sustain you while he makes the adjustments to the bike chain circumstances of your life allowing you to soar as you trust Him . . . and He will prepare more tomorrow.

Rocky