A Perfect Portion

The other night I made pancakes for dinner. While I was cooking I noticed that one small drop of batter had fallen into the pan and had cooked up into what looked like a perfect little dime-sized pancake.

I was feeling a little mischievous so I decided to play a joke on one of my kids. Once dinner was ready I, as usual, called everyone to the table to eat. I stacked each person’s plate with 2 or 3 good sized pancakes until I got to my son Andrew. He got the itty bitty one.

I watched and waited for him to loudly protest this obviously unfair treatment. But, instead of getting upset, he simply popped the puny pancake in his mouth and proceeded to take 2 full-sized pancakes from the serving platter and put them on his plate. You see, he knew that his mom wouldn’t have slighted him that way. He was certain that I had no real intent to treat him poorly.

I sure wish I had that same amount of certainty when it appears to my human eyes that God has sent more blessings someone else’s way and I’m in the middle of a struggle. I hate to admit it, but there have been more than a few times that I’ve felt envious of a fellow believer with more money in their bank account, a bigger house or a newer, nicer car than mine. There have also been lots of occasions when I’ve questioned why God would allow one person to endure one crisis after another while others seem to skate through unscathed by life’s difficulties.

But, remember in Matthew when Jesus talks about God’s gifts to His his children? He said:

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Once again, scripture confirms that God is good, all the time and that his ways are just. In the same way that I would not feed one of my kids a stack of piping hot pancakes and give the other just a crumb, God love for each of us is measured out the same. He pours down his blessings accordingly, giving each of us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.