My youngest baby turned 13 today(last week). That’s a big one. At one time, one whole hand was big. Then double digits was big. Now, my baby is a teenager… My heart has been waiting for this day. Mostly because my heart seems to exist outside of my body and my baby/teenager has been counting it down for nearly two weeks. Every day, several times a day even, he would tell me how many days or sleeps until his birthday(birth-yay!).

I have had a mental checklist going in my brain, with all the things I need to make his big day special. Peanut butter chips and whipped cream to make the birthday peanut butter pancakes for breakfast. I needed to grab a card. And as strange as it felt to not get a gift, instead of surprising him with the latest Transformer that he wanted all wrapped up like it would be a surprise anyway, the plan was to go shopping so he could get what he wanted. To top off the day we would go out to eat. I believe the saying goes… the best laid plans of mice and men.

I wish I could have seen the foreshadowing that was cast when I flipped that first pancake and it broke. I almost threw out that pancake. I wanted a picture perfect plate for my teenager. I thought, it will only take a few minutes to make a new pancake. But as quickly as the thought crossed my mind, I saw it. I saw that pancake and thought, isn’t that like life? We are all a little broken sometimes. As teenagers grow and figure out life, hormones raging on what seems like a rollercoaster ride that you can’t get off of, they get a little broken too. But when we are broken, we don’t throw away the pieces. We try to repair, to do better next time, to move on.

In my devotions this morning, I read about Jesus feeding the five thousand with a basket full of loaves and fish. That seems impossible, right? In human standards and thinking, yes, impossible. But as humans, we can sometimes limit God by time, space, and ability. But God is limitless. He is not restricted by our circumstances. He has the ultimate power and authority to do anything. Even more than I can pray for. So while I sit here worrying about any number of things today instead of giving all of my cares and concerns to the maker of the universe, I’m denying myself the peace that can only come from Jesus himself. No matter the circumstance he can do abundantly more than all I could ask or think or imagine according to his power and given by his grace. He is a good, good father, all of the time. So why am I thinking about throwing out a broken pancake? I flipped that pancake over and it looked a little different. Not a circle like the others(though truth be told, none of them were all that round). It was more like the shape of a donkey, sitting on all its legs… Like that pancake, our day did not go according to plan, but it was clearly in Gods hands. I had to pivot my perspective and my plan and see where the lord pointed me for this day. I’m a little broken sometimes, but Jesus uses my brokenness for my good and his glory. So on my baby boy, I mean teenagers 13th birthday, I’m thankful for a lot of things, but I’m especially thankful for the lesson the lord showed me, using a broken pancake.

John 6:1-15 Jesus feeds the five thousand

Lord thank you for birthdays, thank you for children, thank you for my family, and thank you for my newest teenager. I pray for blessings upon blessings upon blessings for him as he enters his teenage years. Please give him wisdom as he encounters new situations. Please guide him and help him to know you. Lord please show him who he is and who’s he is. I pray that for all of his days he would know that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. And Jesus thank you for broken pancakes. Thank you for meeting us where we are at and speaking to our hearts in the most unlikely of places. In Jesus name, Amen