On Making Pancakes... or, why am I so slow?

Pancakes! First let me say that I LOVE pancakes. All kinds of pancakes - as long as ther not too exotic or (God forbid) cheesy. Love 'em.

Because of that love and appreciation I tend to want to eat them a lot. And having three little girls means that I have had to fix them a lot over the past few years. Even some of the microwaveable ones are actually quite good, and about as convenient a food as one can fix - period. But lately, thanks to economics and a new electric griddle, I have had the opportunity fix them over and over again.

Usually, I buy a Costco-sized bag of dry mix, add the necessary liquid(s) and start cooking - and they are consistently Very Good. Yesterday morning, however, I was flat out of mix, and decided to try to make them from scratch.

The FIRST ONE was barely off the griddle before I could tell the difference in aroma, appearance, and texture. The first bite and the flavor difference became readily apparent. WOW! I could not believe the difference and could not believe what I had been missing. Admittedly, pancakes are not some Julia Child fancy-pants recipe, but the fresh versus premix difference is all the more astounding.

This episode has had me thinking for the past 24 hours.....

The experience of learning the difference between fresh scratch cooking and pre-mix cooking is not a new one. It is a lesson that I have learned before, but is still being re-learned. And I have to wonder - WHY? Why must I forget such simple, essential lessons? In Other Words - Why Am I So Slow????

The priciple applies to every aspect of life, too. How can we all be so stupid? How is it that God can jump in to our lives and save us - like a fireman dragging us semi-concious from a burning building - and a few months later we are cruising along like He isn't really there or doesn't really care? And I gotta wonder - does He get frustrated with us? Does He know how stupid we feel when we re-learn His love and care?

Will we ever really learn - permanently? Or should we even try? Maybe the experience of actually re-learning His love is an essential part of appreciating it in a deeper and deeper way? And maybe that is why He made us the way we are....