Little is Much

 "Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'" John 6: 8, 9

    When my kids were in grade school, I always packed their lunches. Favorite fare was a PB & J sandwich, a piece of fruit, maybe some chips, always a cookie and sometimes, a muffin (much to my youngest daughter's chagrin - for some reason she found it "embarrassing" to have a muffin in her bag.) I liked to tuck in a love note now and then as well. When they got home, I would ask them if they ate their food, hoping they hadn't thrown it away.

    Behind every packed lunch is a mom, so when I read the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, my imagination takes me to the mom behind the boy's lunch. Can you imagine the kid coming home, bursting into the kitchen and blurting to his mom, "You are NOT going to believe what became of my lunch today!" 

    I wonder how the lad felt when Andrew was eyeballing his lunch? What if he'd have declared, as he held his meal close to his chest: "Get outta here! That's my lunch." But instead, for the rest of his life, he had a miraculous story to share with anyone who would listen. The joy of helping Jesus sustained him far longer and deeper than those five loaves and two fish would have.

    Moses was another guy who felt he didn't have a lot to offer God when it was proposed that he lead the children of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage. Following some fruitless bantering, the Lord said to Moses, "What is that in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2) During his career as a shepherd, the rod or staff that Moses held came in handy for that occupation, but what good would a stick do against the powerful Pharaoh? 

    The same could be said about the boy David's sling and five smooth stones, I suppose. It's not about the objects in our hands, it's about the power of the Lord behind these things and our willingness to believe in Him. 

    What do you have in your hand? Maybe it's a knitting needle, a hammer, a pen or a mixing spoon? Take whatever it is you have and employ it for the Kingdom of God. Then, sit back and see just how far you can go against so many obstacles. Little is much in the hands of our God.

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." 1 Corinthians 1: 26-29