Charity is Like Pancakes

Do you see this beautiful work of creation?

How many of you have ever made pancakes that looked like this?

If you have, have you made them often?

Probably not.

This stack of perfect pancakes represents charity: 

the pure love of Christ.

Like perfect pancakes, perfect love often feels impossibly out of reach.

You're always going to slip the spatula, or not whisk the batter long enough, or leave the pancakes on one side for too long.

But you're trying.

And you learn something from every batch of pancakes you make.

I consider pancakes to be one area of cooking that I am good at, but when I first started making pancakes, it looked like this:

Seems crazy that I could mess up something so simple, but love may seem simple at first, too.

Be nice to people.

Give them the benefit of the doubt.

Forgive.

But when you get down to the details, charity is hard.

It's hard to love everyone all the time.
Not just hard. It's impossible.
At least while we're here in our mortal state.

Again, it comes down to doing the best you can.

Try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Try to put others first and yourself second.
Try to serve others with a willing heart.

If you're doing that, Christ can make up the rest.

So maybe your attempts at charity feel like this:

But maybe, that's okay.

Maybe your best is all that God asks of you.