My Basket of Leftovers

     God very seldom works on my time schedule. But I know He has a plan for my life, just as he has for you and everyone else, and He will proceed at His own pace and not any quicker. This became very clear to me as I prepared to give devotion at a Ladies Retreat a couple months ago. I’d had about six months to prepare and here I was a month (or less) before I was due to speak and I had no idea what to talk about, so I was looking for inspiration everywhere! I found it in a comment thrown into a sermon by one of our preachers one Sunday.
     Matthew 14:13-21 tells the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 men (plus women and children) with 5 loaves of bread and 3 fishes. (It’s an amazing story so if you haven’t heard or read it, take time to do it now.) In my mind this story starts with a little boy following Jesus from place to place, seeing miracles performed, hearing great sermons on the mountain, and so forth. This little boy carries in his bag a lunch of bread and fish. During this time, I’m sure the little boy nibbles on the bread (I have two growing boys myself and I know how they can eat). Then Jesus calls for the food so that He can give something to eat to "the multitudes" there with Him. Jesus takes the food, blesses it, then breaks it and gives it to His disciples to distribute to the people.
     I feel a lot like that loaf of bread. I was nice and comfortable in knowing my purpose and being able to use my talents occasionally to move toward that purpose, much like the bread knew its job was to feed the boy and the nibbles the boy took helped to confirm that. Then one day Jesus called me to do something big, maybe not feed 5,000 people, but significant nonetheless. Just like that loaf of bread, Jesus took me in His hands and said a blessing over me. Now remember this is Jesus saying the blessing, this is not a "God is great, God is good" kind of blessing, but Jesus Himself! I could feel myself being warmed and comforted by His hands, those nibbles being filled in so that I was whole again. And then what did He do with the bread?
He broke it. There was no way the bread could feed the 5,000 without it first being pulled to pieces. Then it was passed through the crowd, one group at a time (one place says they were seated in groups of 50, so for 5,000 people that would be about 100 groups). As it was being passed among the first group, it probably wondered, "What?! Why is this happening?" And as it passed through another, "How am I going to get through this?" But each time, between groups, the bread was renewed, multiplied, and restored to make it through the next group. Not unlike a lot of the trials we go through in our walk with the Lord, striving to reach our ultimate purpose.
     And in the end, when everybody had been filled and the bread had gone through all its trials (I mean groups), was it all gone? I would think there would be just enough to fulfill the present need. But no, there were 12 baskets left over! Just when you think you’ve gone through all you can go through and you have nothing left, take a look at your leftovers! Chances are they are more than what you started with. My one basket of leftovers is pretty full!