Filled Up

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. Mark 8:1-10

When we lived in Baltimore, there was a pumpkin farm in Greenspring Valley that let you pay one small price for all the pumpkins you could carry. We would go out into the field, pick all the pumpkins we needed, and then some, and then pile one of us up with pumpkins. It took math and engineering smarts as well as brute strength. We often had so many pumpkins we had to share them with others. The miracles of life can be small or large, but when we work to bring abundance, when we share what we have with compassion, miracles always happen.

Jesus looks at the crowd and sees them fainting with hunger. They are desperate people who have come a long way to find healing and freedom. The disciples were clueless as to how to help. Jesus knew the simple answer. Feed them. And in doing so, miracles and abundance happens. When we are willing to share our little, great abundance can and will occur. When we are willing to show compassion in action, God will always multiply our efforts.

Today, I ask God to help me be generous and compassionate in all things. May we live each day with generous and compassionate actions, so the world might see the generous and miraculous love of God.