Left-Overs

When I was a kid, my favorite meal was when Mommy cleaned out the fridge and we had "left-overs". There were usually five or six different options, and we all got our favorite! Well, until we got older and we all liked everything! ;)

In my devotional recently, I was reminded about the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of more than 5,000 people with the five loaves and two fishes. I'm sure that someone had pointed this out to me before, but the last time I read through the gospels, I was struck by the left-overs in that story.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
Matthew 14:19-20

The more active I've become in ministering at our church, the more I've begun to recognize my need to be fed by the Savior. But as I was pondering this a little more, I was thinking about how Jesus told the apostles to feed the crowd FIRST. And then-- after everyone else was full, there was still a whole basket of food for each apostle! In Christ I have access to abundance both to serve and to be fueled for service. =)

"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.
Ezekiel 34:11-17

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
John 21:13-17