Basket Case

     Today, in my devotions, I read of the John 6 account, where Jesus fed the five thousand.  It brought to mind a lesson I taught at a ladies’ meeting a few years back, and I found myself digging out the old binder to review my notes.  Often I begin a blog not really knowing the turns it will take or where it will end up, and this is one of those.  It is my prayer that God will direct the compass needle and that I won’t fall asleep at the wheel.  It’s only fair that I warn you, though.  I may have to pull over and ask for directions.

     This miracle, unlike most Jesus performed while present in human flesh, was recorded in all four gospels, and although it most certainly would be evidence of His identity and power, He performed it because He was simply “…moved with compassion toward them” (Matt. 14:14).  How wonderful to have a Savior who is so moved!  Isaiah 63:9 foretold what great love He would possess and bestow upon us… “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them:  in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

     I love to imagine the back-and-forth between Jesus and His disciples here, as they reminded Him that this was…

1.        “A desert place” (not to be confused with a dessert place, like Cheesecake Factory *snicker*).

2.       The time was “now past”. In other words, it was late and they could use some shut-eye.

3.       Their suggestion:  “Send the multitude away”.  Something tells me that, although Jesus understood the exhaustion of the disciples, this suggestion probably made His heart ache just a little.  How many times have I thought the “multitude” was just asking too much of me…when, in reality, they had nowhere else to turn?

     In John’s account of this miracle, Jesus asked the disciples, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Beth Moore points out in “Jesus, the One and Only” that “Christ sometimes provokes a question so that He can be the answer.”  That was, most certainly, the case here in this desert place!  Then, almost strangely, He looks at the disciples and tells them to feed the multitude.  It seems almost unfair to the disciples, except when we remember that the source of their exhaustion was from healing the sick and even raising the dead.  Hadn’t they been fed by Jesus before?  Hadn’t His command been “…freely ye have received, freely give”?  Unfortunately, the disciples were guilty of what we, so many times are also guilty of.  “…We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.”  Friend, never feel inadequate when following a command from God!  His specialty is making much from nothing!

     Then, Jesus takes the bread, and after blessing it, He breaks it.  It is so easy to release something to God when we know it will be returned with His blessing, but surrendering anything to Him to break at His will is a much more difficult task.  Matthew Henry said “As the widow’s oil increased in the pouring out, so here the bread in the breaking.”  Any life where the sweet scent of love and blessing lingers is sure to have an alabaster box in pieces at His feet. 

                                                                                                                                                                         Continued…  

The Many Blessings

     Thanksgiving was day before yesterday, and my newest niece was born the day before that, so…although I have spent much of the time thinking of God’s goodness, I thought of it on the run and haven’t felt like I had the time to put any of it on paper.  This morning, I stole a few minutes to do so.  I know it’s belated, but fortunately, giving thanks isn’t reserved for only one day of the year.

Earlier:

     As I sit here at my desk trying to do some studying, I can’t help but think of the many blessings I’ve seen in my thirty-three years.  “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  I love what the Psalmist is saying here, to remember every benefit He has graced upon me would be an impossibility.  The childhood sicknesses He healed, the memories of family and friends, the times He touched my broken heart…these alone are countless blessings.  Doubtless, the greatest of blessings is that He took the time to move on my eleven year old heart and show me my need of His salvation and guidance in my life.  The God of heaven and earth took the time to send His convicting Spirit up a West Virginia hollow to change the life of a freckle-faced, ugly-feeling girl at church camp!  I’m wiping tears at the thought.  Oh, friends, God has been good to me!

     Am I still ordinary?  Painfully so!  But, His blessings toward me are extraordinary!  To count a few…my girls just left their tree house to run next door to grandparents who love them, a naked deer hangs in a tree in the front yard (Gross, I know, but it will fill our bellies.), I’m wearing warm clothes and already have gifts under the Christmas tree.  So, today, I’ll try to not focus on my short-comings, but rather on His far-reaching.  I’m also going to pretend I don’t see the dogs rolling in the deer guts.  Lovely.    

Chicken Dance

     “Reach” screams the little voice in my head (No comments, please.), so I reach.  I stretch.  I stand on my mental tiptoes and extend every ounce of intellectual energy (Again…no comments.), and the only end result is the phrase I read on a friend’s facebook wall this morning… “I dream of a better world.  One where a chicken can cross the road without its motives being questioned.”  I know.  Deep.  But aren’t we all just chickens trying to get to the other side?  Do we really have to be so skeptical of every spoken word?  Every nod?  Every glance?  Every smile?  Every change?  Sadly, we do have to use extreme caution in a world that is seemingly growing more evil by the second, but amongst ourselves, can we please just put away the “I’m taking every little word you say as a personal attack or compromise on your part based on our/your history” attitude for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season?  And if you just took this personal, you’re totally missing the point.  It’s not aimed at any soul but my own. 

     So, that’s it.  If you’re in search of profound words of wisdom to guide you on your way, sadly, you stumbled across the wrong blog today.  The plain truth is I’m just a big, fat chicken trying to avoid becoming another smear of road kill on the freeway of life.  The other plain truth is the traffic patterns change, so I have to change to survive them.   If I dart your way (like a chicken with her head cut off), I may just be dodging a semi you don’t see. 

The Good Part

     I have a small confession.  I could spend a good hour in the greeting card isle.  I have to prepare myself and even evaluate whether I’m up to the task or not.  It’s such an emotional roller coaster!  Laughing one minute…crying the next…it can be quite pathetic, and if we’re ever out shopping together and you’re easily embarrassed, you may want to slip away to the grocery section or at least linger one isle over.  It’s a sort of brief escape from reality.  (On a side note…I think Wal-Mart could benefit greatly from making the card section a little coffee house of sorts, with benches and cappuccinos and maybe some soft music.  That’s just my opinion, though.)

     Anyway… this is my week to drive the school carpool.  On the way home this morning, I wondered, “If my life was represented on a greeting card, how would it read?  What illustration or emblem would grace the front to catch the shopper’s eye?”  Immediately, a card a dear friend sent me years ago came to mind that pictures a fifties-era woman with perfect hair and a perfect smile, standing in her kitchen, wearing an apron, holding a mop.  I can’t recall the exact words, but it said something about her spending her spare time polishing her floors to a lovely shine, then the inside read, “Help me.”  Though I’m sure the picture on my card would most definitely not include perfect hair, polished nails or heels, the gist would most likely be the same.  The caption would probably read, “Hello.  I’m Mrs. Ordinary”, and this little punch line on the inside – “My extra is apparently missing right now.  Maybe I left it in the pocket of the jeans I just threw into the washer or it rolled under the beds I haven’t made yet.” 

     My daily struggle is this:  The only thing extraordinary about me is all of the extra ordinary.  If you’re looking for ordinary, you’ve come to the right place.  I have it in extra amounts!  “Can I interest you in some mundane or seemingly trivial?  I can serve that up hot and fresh with a side of guilt over discontentment and a steaming cup of restless anticipation.  Oh, and who wants to sip on restless anticipation without a couple lumps of aimlessness?   Wow.  Sarcasm is an ugly thing, isn’t it?  To my shame, I keep heaping helpings of that, too.  Unfortunately, it makes its way off the back burner too often.

     So, like the fifties lady from the greeting card, I’m left asking for help.  Even though my emotions are screaming otherwise, I know He will help.  I know His command is for me to live for His greatness, instead of my own and to always put the eternal above the temporal.  Today, I simply refuse to be so “cumbered about much serving” that the “needful”, “good part” leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  So, my solution this morning is to put off mopping the floors until Monday, spend extra time in the Word, and go have coffee with my mom.  Since my husband is working and my girls are at school, she and Dad are the only other things of eternal value within walking distance.  Dark and strong, please, with no cream.                

Luke 10:38-42