How about making crepes this morning?
There was a time when I was skilled at making crepes.
I knew how to get them light, yet with an al dente “tooth” to them.
Saturday mornings at my place, anyone could find all the crepes they desired, and sometimes Sunday before church too.
With a crepe, any jam will do, you really can’t go wrong. But a nice jam is even better.
Strawberries alongside heavy cream, that’s been shaken in a mason jar, with a hint of vanilla bean are awesome.
Nutella and banana were a beloved combo too.
And my favorite, one you might never imagine: powered sugar sprinkled on lightly and fresh lemon wedges squeezed over the top.
There’s a thing about crepes though.
And anyone who has ever made them knows:
It is the pancake paradigm.
The first one you make isn’t usually your best one.
The flour grind is a little off, the batter is too thin, the pan the wrong temperature, not enough butter, too much butter.
Whatever it is, the pancake paradigm tells you this: just keep going.
Slow progress is still progress.
Keep moving forward.
How many meals would have been ruined if grandma would have stopped after the first pancake because it wasn’t perfect?
Probably every meal in which pancakes were served.
And what if she would have stopped after the first kid if everything wasn’t perfect?
You might not be be here.
You have got to have a pretty special grandma for her to have gotten the first pancake right every time.
And that is because life doesn’t work that way. Life is not perfect. Life is often good enough, which is just the way life is meant to be.
And that means when you get worked up because of a lack of perfection, you are getting worked up about the reality of life.
It is hard to win an argument with reality.
I am not saying to allow low standards in your life, I am saying quite the opposite — push ahead no matter what, push ahead no matter how bad the first pancake is.
In 2020, the freedom fighters got sucker punched, and then they got bested. Lots of people got fooled into masks and all kinds of other nonsense. But now, as people wake up, it is looking more and more likely that we are going to win this one and take back freedoms that even our grandparents once thought unimaginable.
I have got books for you to help wake others up: Face Masks in One Lesson and Face Masks Hurt Kids.
They work. They really work.
The first time at a compliance checkpoint after you take off the mask and refuse to put it back on, it may not be perfect. The fiftieth time after you take off the mask and refuse to put it back on, it may not be perfect. The five hundredth time, it might not be perfect.
But I know this much, as you push forward, you grow.
As you push forward, you also grow freedom in the world around you.
And that is what a lion naturally does once roused.
He does not worry about whether or not he is perfect.
That would be foolish talk.
He just keeps doing his thing, his freedom-spreading, beautiful thing.
Can that be you today?
Can you keep living your beautiful, unmasked life, and spread freedom everywhere you go?
How does that sound for a game plan for today: eat some crepes and live life as freely as you can?
Allan Stevo