I often hear people talk about gifts. They have discovered that they are good at this or that, and it has changed their life and the lives of the people around them. It is all too easy to be slightly envious of people who seem to have it all worked out. Maybe in the moment of ‘I want a bit of that’, it can be all too easy to try and make ourselves ‘fit into’ a gift rather than the other way around.
I love the feeling of community that comes with a
pot-luck meal. Everyone is fed, and there is always food left over. In the feeding of the 5000 we are not told that God provided 8 months of wages so that the disciples could go and purchase just enough food for everyone to have one bite to eat, or that the richest person in the area suddenly appeared with food to spare. We are told that someone quite unexpected, a young child, offered the gift of their lunch that provided enough for everyone with baskets to spare.
Thinking about today’s gospel passage reminded me that God wants us to use the gifts we have. However small or insignificant they seem to us, they are important to God and to others.
Jen Adam
