Breakfast

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. John 21:11-14

Breakfast. The most intimate meal of the day. We wear our ripped pajamas, and sport our morning breath an dour bed hair. I can't hardly speak before my first cup of coffee. It takes me several to be able to speak in full sentences. Most of us are at our most vulnerable and human at breakfast. We are sensitive and sleepy. Many arguments erupt from breakfast companions - one wearing their hear on their sleeve, the other lacking coffee, talking with no sensitivity. Breakfast tells a lot about people. Do they drink coffee, tea, or diet coke? Do they bury their head in a paper or do they seek conversation? We are known at breakfast. We are ourselves at breakfast. And that is where Jesus finds the disciples - at breakfast. He was smart to be bringing food. People who had fished all night, smelled all kinds of nasty, and who had lost too much sleep - well, bringing food is like bringing light back into the world. Jesus met them at their most vulnerable. When the familiar things weren't working. He found them struggling and fed them. He made their nets full when they had nothing. He came at the critical moment of their despair and frustration and fed them. If I had been there, Jesus would have had to bring coffee too. And lots of it.

Today, I want to find a new trust in God, who in Jesus, is always seeking me out my dark and vulnerable places, in my times of exhaustion and failure, and bringing me abundance despite myself. God is willing to feed me in the morning, when all my efforts have failed and I am at my weakest hour. And God promises to be there with healing and restoration in our most vulnerable times. May we who have been fed, care for others. May we who have known love, offer it to others. In the breaking of the bread, God will be known.