Yesterday, my 6-year-old daughter came home from school with a stack of pictures she had drawn for various members of our family. Each one was very thoughtful and contained a picture of that person’s favorite thing. When she got to mine, she handed me a blank piece of paper.
“Here you go, daddy. I didn’t have time to do yours, but here it is.”
I love it that she actually still gave me the blank piece of paper though she wasn’t able to do what she intended to do. I love it that she had no inhibition about offering what she had even though it wasn’t complete.
As I read the story in the Gospels of how Jesus feeds 5000 families with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, a couple of thoughts occur to me regarding the little boy who gave up his lunch as described in the book of John.
First, it strikes me as odd that in a crowd of 5000 families, this boy would have been the only one to have any food. The Bible tells us that his was the only food the disciples brought back, but does not necessarily say that it was the only food that was there that day. It makes me wonder if maybe others had food, but they reasonably concluded their own lame lunches could make no difference in such a large crowd and, therefore, kept it to themselves.
Could it be that this boy was just young and naïve enough to think that his 2 fish and 5 loaves could make a difference? Could it be that he had no inhibition about offering what he had even though it clearly wasn’t complete?
When it comes to the foster care crisis in our country, most of us recognize that the need is enormous. We also realize that what we each have to offer is totally and completely insufficient to meet the need.
The question is, are we childlike enough to believe that the little we offer can be multiplied by God, not just so that the need can be met but so that there would be more than enough? We can’t even come close to meeting the needs of kids in foster care in this country. However, we can offer our measly loaves and fishes and trust God to do His thing.
What is something you have – time, talent, treasure – that seems small and insignificant that you’ve been holding back because it seems so utterly incomplete?
What steps do you need to take to give it to the God of “more than enough”?
by Jason Weber
