“How about pancakes for lunch” my wife suggested at noon on Saturday. It is one of our go-to weekend lunches.

But since it’s early in the year and there’s still all kinds of sugar pumping through my veins, from chocolates to candy to baking, I’m not sure it’s wise to have something so sugar-laden.

If you are thinking that it doesn’t have to be that sweet, then you’ve never seen me eat pancakes.

First you have to stack them, about 6 or 7 high, and then you create a waterfall scene with the maple syrup flowing down into puddles on the plate below. 

It reminds me of a scene right from the Bible. You know when Elijah had altar wars with the prophets of Baal? Elijah dowsed his altar with water and more water, so that the water filled the trough around the bottom of the altar. Then he called on God to bring fire and burn up the water – which God did.

Well, my pancake scene reminds me of the altar with all the water being poured on it before God lit it on fire.

Anyway, the syrup is sweet and plentiful, but then there are the pancakes themselves. 

My wife, Lily, doesn’t just make regular pancakes. She make banana chocolate pancakes. Into the batter she adds mashed bananas and chocolate chipits. These babies are sweet all on their own!

Now it’s possible I could show some restraint with how many pancakes I take, and even limit the syrup I use, but I know how it goes.

I look at my stack and think, “maybe one more”, and when I’m pouring on the syrup, sometimes it’s hard to pull up on that spout when that golden brown elixir is flowing so smoothly in slow motion fashion. 

No, I think it was a mistake to say I’d have pancakes for lunch. Maybe by about the middle of February my sugar levels will start to go down to an acceptable percentage level.

We use real maple sugar on our pancakes and I’m not sure if that is better or worse than using that fake stuff by Aunt Jemimah that my son seems to love so much. 

… There must be something seriously wrong with him that he would prefer that coloured water with some artificial flavour added in. 

But I don’t mind because when it comes to any kind of saucing of food, that kid knows no limit. It doesn’t matter if it is gravy, hot sauce, or syrup, if it is something that you pour over food Mike floods his plate with it. 

So his choice means more syrup for me. He can just use that cheap imitation stuff to his heart’s content. 

But this doesn’t solve my sugar problem today. Maybe having hot wings with Franks Red Hot for dinner will counter all the sweetness I’m having at noon. 

Why not? It satisfies my conscience.

Here’s the thing: You can have too much of a good thing to the point where it’s not good for you. But you can’t have too much of God. In fact, when you are low, an extended time of thanking Him will lift your spirits. And if you are full of joy, thankful praise will motivate you further to love and good deeds. No matter what’s flowing through your soul, time focussed on God will produce good fruit. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you took an extended time to thank the Lord? Leave your comments and questions below.