Give Them Yourselves!

“Give them some food yourselves.” Mark 6:37

What a surreal experience this was for the disciples, a group of fishermen totally out of their element. They were in a far away place with Jesus, a “deserted place” they called it, some distance away from farms and villages where they could buy food. The crowd was vast, 5000 people, who had followed them to this place, eager to listen to all Jesus had to teach them. The hour was growing late, and the disciples, concerned, suggested that Jesus send them away. 

“Give them some food yourselves,” Jesus said instead. “But it would cost us 200 days’ wages to provide food for all of them!” they protested out of disbelief. “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked and they counted their meager resources. Five loaves and two fish! How could they hope to feed the five thousand?! And yet they did, because Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed the food, and broke it. They started giving, and giving, and giving, and all were satisfied. Miracles come when we do not have enough and we still are generous with what we have. 

The cross in the picture is my friend Aly’s Christmas gift to me. It is made of wood, and Aly painted it using techniques she says I taught her. “Thank you for teaching me the amazing art of layering and marking. YOU are amazing.  It is blessed by Fr Dave already,” she told me. Aly does not know how blessed I feel when I look at her cross! I was blessed by another friend in Canada, Ginger, when she showed me her beautiful art on her walls, and I was so inspired. Because of Ginger, I became braver about painting. That was in 2004. Since then I have delighted in teaching, giving what I have learned, and what God has blessed me with. At the start, I had much less than five loaves and two fishes worth of artistic talent. But through the years, I have shared whatever I have gathered from others, and yes, it has multiplied. 

Sometimes, we do not want to share, we want to protect what we have in our hands. But that is not how God’s providence works. The more we give, the more He will bless what we do and the more He will provide. 

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Cor.9:8)