Pancakes With Ketchup
Published: August 30, 2010
Recently while watching one of my favorite talk shows, a young girl from Haiti was featured. She was recently adopted by a family in America and literally left a life of devastation and entered a little girls fantasy land with all the toys, clothes and food she could ever want
While in Haiti the young girl rarely had food to eat, therefore when she moved to America with her adopted parents, they went through a season in which the young girl would hoard food because of her fear that there wouldn’t be any the next time she was hungry. Of course she eventually stopped the hoarding because she realized it was not necessary.
What was quite interesting is that during the course of the interview the little girl was asked about her favorite food. Surprisingly the little girl responded, “Pancakes with ketchup.”
Pancakes with ketchup?
Remember, this little girl is not from America. She has no idea that in America most of us don’t do that. We don’t eat pancakes with ketchup.
So oblivious to the fact that her new adopted family thought it was odd…and regardless of the fact that the interviewer looked shocked…this innocent child continued to enjoy her pancakes with ketchup.
This made me think. Maybe we all need a little pancakes with ketchup in our lives.
Let me explain.
This child was in a new environment but she was not trying to hold on to what she knew in her old environment. Growing up in Haiti, most of the time if she was able to eat, she would eat rice and beans. But now in this new environment she wasn’t eating the old food…she was eating something new. Regardless if the people around her thought it was strange...she enjoyed her new environment with the new food.
Pancakes with ketchup.
How many of us feel the Holy Spirit nudging us into a new place in our lives but we are too afraid to move? If you are like me, you may start taking the steps necessary to the ‘new’ place, but you insist on holding on to the things from the ‘old’ place.
Like most mental health therapists I have certain themes that I use in my practice. One of those themes is a popular quote that says: “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over but expect a different result.”
Almost every Sunday you can find Saints of God all around the world singing, dancing and shouting about a “new season,” but most of us are singing, dancing and shouting while holding on to all that junk of the old season. We keep doing the same old things and act confused when we end up with the same results.
We are afraid to do something new…something different…something strange. We are afraid to try a little pancakes with ketchup.
Okay…I get it…you need a scripture right? I understand so here it is:
Isaiah 43:19 (NLT) says “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”
Why wouldn’t God’s people see what was to come? Maybe because they were stuck on what had been? Maybe they were busy eating beans and rice and were afraid to try a little pancakes with ketchup.
Need another one? Luke 5:37-38 (NKJ) says “…no one puts new wine into old wineskins; …new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved”.
In other words, you can’t try and do what you’ve always done if you are going to walk into something new.
Most of us, unlike the little Haitian girl, are afraid of trying new things because we are afraid to be different. We are afraid to stand out from the crowd…to make waves…to challenge what has always been done. We stay stuck in our rut…stuck in our old situation because going into the new situation may make others think we are odd, different or strange. But the King James version of 1 Peter 2:9 says those who are called of God should be ‘strange’…we should be considered a ‘peculiar’ people.
You know…the kind of people who would eat pancakes with ketchup.
So what do we do? It’s simple.
Today, starting right now, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart about what you need to release from your yesterday so that you can walk boldly in your today.
Tell God that you trust Him enough to try something new so that you can grab hold to what He has for you.
Declare to the Father that no matter how strange it is…no matter how others may view you….no matter how odd you may feel, you are ready to embrace the new place that He’s been trying to move you towards.
Tell God that you are ready for some pancakes with ketchup.
© Robin May. All rights reserved.
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Robin May is the creator of Virtue Speaks, an LLC focused on coaching, counseling and consulting services. A mental health therapist and relationship coach, Robin is the author of Before You Take His Name. For more information about Robin, visit http://www.virtuespeaks.com.
