Six-year-old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to make his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and slid out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor!
He scooped some of the flour into a bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a trail of flour on the floor, which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.
Soon Brandon was covered with flour and getting very frustrated! All he had wanted to do was something good for Mom and Dad but instead, everything was going very badly!
Brandon didn’t know what to do next, whether to put his mix into the oven or on top of the stove ring and he didn’t know how the stove worked!
Suddenly, he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and as he reached to push her away, he knocked the egg carton to the floor. Frantically, as he tried to clean up his monumental mess, he slipped on the eggs, getting his pyjamas wet, white and sticky.
Just then, he saw Dad standing at the door and big crocodile tears welled up in his eyes. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father quietly looked around and then, walking through the mess, picked up his crying son, hugged him and kissed him.
Reflection
A very beautiful story, full of love and guidance.
The love aspects are relatively obvious to see and feel; we must never let love die.
The guidance! Well, think of the numerous occasions when we started out with good intentions but, disaster after disaster followed. For some of us, the disasters appear to repeat themselves every day! However, despite our disappointments, we mustn’t forget that God our Father is watching, knows our love-intentions and remains at the ready to pick us up.
