“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”     John 6:9

 

Jesus took them . . .

simple loaves of bread 

perhaps delicious,

perhaps highly valued by a hungry boy,

perhaps a sacrifice to surrender,

released into the hands of Jesus.

 

Jesus broke them. 

Whole loaves of bread,

reduced to pieces.

 

 A plan

known only to Him.

  Submission required.

Surrender of mind.

Surrender of will.

Surrender of flesh.

Jesus took it,

Gave thanks for it.

. . . .

And Broke it!

. . . .

His purpose unclear,

It is broken again!

Fragments of what was,

now mere crumbs.

Wasted.

 

Then . . .

Understanding!

Abundance!

All filled!

All satisfied!

More than enough!

 

 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. . . 

“Let nothing be wasted.”  

 

Twelve baskets

Filled!

A child’s bread,

Broken, 

Precious!

Purposed!

 

With those broken fragments of bread Jesus fed thousands of needy people. 

We are not told what was done with the leftover baskets of bread.

Some purposes of Jesus are revealed; Others are veiled.

No part of that broken bread was wasted. 

Every crumb meant something to someone!

 

Precious, Life-Giving, Crumbs with Purpose!

 

Those crumbs are still feeding people today –

Nourishing children as they first encounter the heart of Jesus.

Encouraging  the couple struggling with releasing their finances to God,

Inspiring the discouraged pastoral family seeing few results for their investment.

Sustaining broken people in the season between surrender and revelation.

Lifting those lost among the fragments of their lives.

Two Thousand year old crumbs of bread!

 

The One who turns fragments into abundance declares:

“Let nothing be wasted!”