We sometimes think that we have very little to offer, or that we don’t amount to much. But just listen to this story….
A little boy was pushing his way through the crowd, wanting to see a miracle. He had heard about this preacher who did miracles, and he badly wanted to see one. But there were so many people crowding around the teacher listening to what He was saying, and the sick people were pushing forwards so that they could be touched by Him. The hours passed by.
It had been a long hot day and the people were starting to get hungry and tired. The little boy wondered what was going to happen next. He was getting hungry himself, but he had been so busy listening to and watching everything that was happening he had almost forgotten the five small buns and two little fish he had in his bag.
Then he heard the Master say to His friends, “How do you think we should feed all these people?”
They didn’t seem to have a clue. “Perhaps we should send them away to get something to eat”, one of them suggested.
Our little boy nudged Andrew, one of the friends, and said, “Look, the Master can have these little buns and fish to feed the people” as he gave them to him. Andrew was almost ashamed to show Jesus what he had. “Well, we’ve got these five buns and two small fish, but how will they feed such a crowd?” he asked as he gave them to Him.
Jesus didn’t hesitate as He took them. He gave thanks to God for them as though it was some great banquet He had in front of Him, and then started to break the buns and fish apart. They just kept going. More and more! He handed the pieces out to His friends and told them to distribute them to the people who were now sitting down on the grass. It was an incredible sight, a giant picnic. Not only was there enough food for everyone, but there were twelve baskets of left-overs too!!
Our little boy had wanted to see a miracle, and now he had not only seen one of the greatest miracles of all time, but he was part of it too! He hadn’t done the miracle, but the Master had, with what he had given Him. If he hadn’t parted with his five buns and two little fish, he would not have been part of it.
It’s the same for us today. If we don’t hand over to God the little that we have, we won’t see any miracles done, let alone be part of them. How much of the small talent that we have, do we give to Him for His glory? God uses the little things to accomplish what He intends to do all along.
Goliath was a large giant of a man, yet he was killed by a teenage boy with a slingshot. Gideon took a walled city at God’s command with just three hundred men armed with…lamps and trumpets! When God sent His Son into the world, he didn’t use a mature older woman to care for this precious baby. He chose an unknown teenager who loved Him (God) with all her heart and who was prepared to give up her reputation, and maybe even her future husband who she was engaged to.
It’s not our talent that counts in serving God, it’s what God does with what we give back to Him. He takes the little that we have and makes something big of that. We must learn to quit holding on to our lunch thinking it is too small to be of any value!!
PS….You can read these accounts in the Bible to get the full story……Matthew 14:14-21; Mark 6:34-44; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:1-14
Seasons of Life… BS4Y
Have you ever thought of life in this way? We went to a funeral the other day, and it struck me again of the brevity of life when you have come to the end of it. When we are younger, the years stretch ahead endlessly (we think) and there always seems plenty of time to do the things we want to, or the things we know we ought to do.
“Tomorrow” we tell ourselves, “We’ll do it (or think about it) tomorrow”.
But you know, tomorrow never comes. A wise king in the Bible called Solomon thought about these things and this is what he had to say about life…..”To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…” He wrote more on these lines in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8…
His father, King David wrote these words….”As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes; For the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and its place shall know it no more.”
It sparked these thoughts…
Spring…. ages birth – thirty…. Seeds sown
This is the time of life that we lay our foundations….of education, relationships and careers. We learn more in these years than at any other time of life.
Summer .. ages 30-50… Weeds grown
These are the busy years…we are so busy raising a family, buying a home and getting established, that we allow the weeds of busyness to stifle any thoughts we might have towards God and the spiritual side of life.
Autumn… ages 50-70… Deeds reaping time
It’s now the time of reaping what we’ve been sowing during the previous years. The habits we’ve formed, either bad or good; our families have grown and gone, and now we have time for the hobbies we’ve always promised ourselves to take up; we still have the energy to travel and see other parts of the world. Our habits take over and we are so busy having a good time that again we put thoughts of the future out of our minds.
Winter… ages 70-? Needs…time’s flown!
Our grandchildren have grown and are now having problems which we can’t help taking on our own shoulders as we watch them flounder along making the same mistakes that we once made. Now we are brought up with a round turn by health problems, and we find that we have new needs. We have to downsize; things we once did with ease, now take all day. Then when we come to the next big-0 birthday, we realise that there is very little time left, and maybe no quality time at that. Our minds are not as clear as they used to be, and it is an effort to think of the future and spiritual things. “Well,” we say, “We’ve lived without God all these years, so we can die without Him too!”
This is the biggest mistake we can ever make. We should take time right NOW to think about the future and get ready to meet our Maker. Remember the trips we used to take and the preparations we made for them? The research we put into where to go and where to stay? Our final trip is the greatest trip we will ever make….let’s make sure we are ready to go!
Peace of Mind Blg
As a wise man was once walking from one town to another with a friend, they passed a small lake.. They stopped there and the wise man said, “I’m thirsty, please get me some water from that lake there”.
The friend walked to the lake, but noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, then a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and dirty. The friend thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my friend to drink!” So he came back and told him that the water was too muddy and not fit to drink.
A little later, the wise man asked his friend to go back to the lake again and get him some water to drink. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above was fit to drink, so he collected some and brought it to the wise man.
The wise man looked at the water, and said, “See what you did to make the water clean? You let it be … and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water!”
Our minds are like this too. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.
What did the wise man say? He said that it was effortless. Having ‘peace of mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. To have the peace OF God, we must have peace WITH God. This makes all the difference. Then the peace OF God will spread around you and in this environment, other people around will start feeling that peace and grace.
I was visiting a friend in a rest home recently, and she said that different ones had asked her how she could bear to be cooped up in her bedroom day by day. She said it was all in her attitude. For her, she had no choice.
But she DID have a choice whether she was going to accept it gracefully with a smile or resentfully with a bad attitude. Her prayer is that her room will be noticed by the staff as a room of peace and joy, and already some have mentioned that they notice this. She regards these confining conditions as another mission field for her…one which able-bodied older people do not have in the same way.
What a lesson to us all! If we take all our situations to the Lord and thank Him for the answer BEFORE we get it, His peace will envelop us and will be seen by those around us! (Philippians 4:6-7)
What Sort of Legacy are we Leaving? Blg
I’ve been to a few funerals lately, and there’s nothing sadder than standing around an open grave and hearing some of the family of the deceased talking about the life of their dearly departed. Whether we like it or not, this is going to happen to each one of us sooner or later. What will our family be able to say about us? Will they know without a doubt that the real “us” is in the presence of God? Or will they just vaguely hope we are there?
It’s not enough to like a certain hymn or to have given our spouse an inspirational book once (both examples of which I have heard given). Let’s make sure that our family KNOW without a doubt that our faith is in God and His Son Jesus Christ. This is the best legacy we can leave them.