Baking a Few Loaves

A woman settles down in her little Jewish home to bake some bread. It’s not an easy task. She has no refrigerator, no modern appliances, she has only her hands and a little wood stove to bake with, yet somehow, as usual the bread turns out.

The next day, her young son grabs up a few small loaves as he runs out the door. She calls him back, telling him that bread is not enough to feed a growing boy: “Take these fish too.” She says. He does so and then runs off.

That evening her son returns home with a fantastic story. Her bread, just baked the day before, had been divided to feed 5000 people! They had all shared that and the fish – there was even some left over!

What did she think, this little Jewish mother? Did she wish for the loaves back again so she could have baked them better? Would she have used better ingredients if she had known Jesus would be eating them?

We of course, don’t know the answer to any of these questions. Yet, I am certain that this woman would have put extra effort into baking if she had known so many people would be eating the fruits of her labors.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. God wants to use the fruit of our labors too. Yet, so often we turn in suboptimal efforts that He is scarcely able to use.

God despises lukewarmness. Mediocrity is the antithesis of the Christian life – it is all or nothing. He wants our best, or nothing at all!

So, when you bake bread, or do any of the other “menial” chores that crowd our days, make special effort. You too may find out, like a Jewish mother so long ago, what the Master can do with a few loaves of bread.