Friday, April 23, 2021
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[f] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Mark 6:34-43
She Never Imagined
Here is a different spin on a very popular story out of Mark 6 - Jesus feeding the 5,000. This is a devotional that was written for Mother's Day, so the spin is that of the mother that packed the little boy's lunch that day. She had no idea what plans God had for her child that day and how He would use him for His glory.
Packing
a lunch for our children may seem to be just another mundane task of motherhood
but leaving a legacy for our children is a lot like packing their lunches for
life. We want them to be equipped and
healthy; physically, spiritually, socially, and emotionally.
A Lunchbox
Legacy
A
Lunchbox legacy is very specific to the responsibility of mothering. It is not just a legacy of personal character
or accomplishments. One job that we are
going to look at from a different perspective today is packing lunches. What can be more innocuous? Less important in
the grand scheme of things?
There
was one such mother in the bible that packed a lunch for her son one day, just
like every other day. This mother was
doing her normal job of taking care of her son, making sure he had something to
eat as he left the house for the day.
She didn’t realize that she was doing something really special or that
she was doing something that God would use for His great purpose. The story I am talking about is the little
boy who gave his lunch that his mother had packed that morning – five loaves of
bread and two fishes – to Jesus to feed 5,000 people. I am sure his mother never imagined that the
lunch she packed her son that morning would be used to perform a miracle by
none other than Jesus himself.
When
you are packing your child’s lunch, you put a lot of thought into it. You plan ahead. Sometimes you get them involved. This gives them ownership in their own
legacy. You add good things for them. Just like in the story, The mother fills the
lunchbox and God uses it for whatever purpose He has. We put into their lives every day the things
that will help them to become who God intends and to be used for His purpose in
life. We “pack their lunch” for life.
The
Lunchbox represents much more than just a physical provision to get the child
through the day. Every day the mother invests herself with her presence and
thoughts– packing the child’s lunch.
She puts notes in the lunchbox – I’m praying for you, I love you…This is
the subtle, everyday building of a legacy.
Her thoughts are not on the lunch but the day ahead for this child.
Leaving
a legacy for your children is like packing their lunch. You want to give them things in their lunch
that are good for them, things that will sustain them and satisfy them. You want to pack healthy food, food that
nourishes their life. You want them to
trust that you will give them good things.
You want them to have faith in you
to pack a good lunch for them.
The
real question around the Lunchbox Legacy is “does my child have what they need
to succeed today?” You want to give them
things in their lunch that are good for them, things that will sustain them and
satisfy them. You want to pack healthy
food, food that nourishes their life.
You want them to trust that you will give them good things. You want
them to have faith in you to pack a good lunch for them. The Lunchbox of Life needs to avoid junk food
that looks good and may taste good but lead to emptiness. Be careful what you feed your children. False values lead to empty lives. It is part of our jobs as mothers and
certainly part of the legacy we want to leave to pass on authentic faith and
Christianity along with godly values.
