At 6:40 my alarm stirs me awake. I wipe the sleep from my eyes, jump into the shower, and make my way to the kitchen table where Mishone and the rest of my house meets for morning devotions. Mishone and Rocky have already been up for an hour already making pancakes. Once devotions are finished we continue making pancakes, putting them in the oven as each one gets done so we can keep them warm. Soon we see kids going by our house on their way to school. We gather up the plates, forks, pancakes and the coffee table and head out to see the neighborhood kids and get them pancakes. Each Thursday we are out there we meet and see someone new. Many times our neighbor, Ms. Avis, will yell over to us about how we have pancakes again and we will offer her and her grandson pancakes before he goes to school. There are a group of guys that live in a house only a block away and every day of the week all we hear about is them getting their pancakes on Thursday. It has become my favorite day of the week. I love seeing the kid going to school and getting to see them for even just a mintue in their big coats and wishing them a good day at school. I have met a couple moms that drive over and ask what we are doing and we often meet their car full of kids!
It has been a challenge sometimes though. It is hard to have to get up earlier in the morning (if you know me, you know that this is a challenge!), it is a scarifice in our budget but nothing can compare to the joy I see of the kids faces when they start waving from far off because they see us with pancakes or the mom who has opened up to us because we are outside each Thursday.
This has become a simple way to love our neighbors. Our lives are not our own and we know that though our resources come from the God who provides. So we trust that each week we are able to greet those that walk by us with a warm smile and a stack of pancakes! Through this simple weekly thing, I hope that it opens up a whole new world of relationships and opportunities to meet those that we live around.
Pancakes and Thursday Mornings
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