A sea of thousands, all ages, all sorts of people seated on the grass around you spreading down the sides of the hill where you stood and spilling into the field below.
They came from all over to see you and hear you teach, hanging on your every word, captivated, not wanting to leave. Now it’s been three days! The problem is: they didn’t bring enough food for three days.
Your disciples could see the need as they scanned the crowd, but must have felt completely perplexed and inadequate when they heard you say:
“Give them something to eat.”
“With what? Our good intentions?”
“We could never have enough money to buy food for all of them!”
“Bring me what you have.”
What they found was enough for one person’s meal.
But in your hands, it became more than enough for thousands!
This story has come to mind several times in the last month or so. I look at the faces of people I love and see needs—situations I find myself in that can be overwhelming.
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This morning I had the thought that if we could get a higher altitude view of life, especially in the moments when we’re mired down in the weeds or mud of a tough circumstance, it would make it easier to go on. Imagine walking through a late summer corn field when the corn’s taller than you are, following someone who is cutting a path or design in the field. From the ground’s perspective it would all look very much the same: rustling rows of green corn stalks as far as the eye could see. If you could fly up above the field and look down, however, you’d see the design taking shape. You might even have an “Aha!” moment, smiling and saying, “I get it now.”
Along the Narrow Path 