Faithful With a Smidgen

When I was in third or fourth grade, I wanted to give my teacher a Christmas gift. 

What could I give her?? Hmmmmm… I know! I have fifty cents! I could wrap that up, it would be a great gift! 

Yeppers, you bet I wrapped two quarters up together in wrapping paper– no box, no envelope, no nothin’– and gave them to my teacher with all the excitement and pride a child possesses when they realize they can put themselves in the role of Giver. Think about just how much little children receive in their first years of life! They’re well acquainted with the delight of getting, and the idea of being able to bring that kind of delight to someone else with something they can give is exhilarating. 

I don’t remember if my parents knew about my plan, but if they did, they didn’t discourage me, and kudos to them for it. Kudos also to my wonderful teacher who knew how to receive with her own childlike delight. Some time later she wrote me a thank you note, describing how one day she was at the school working hard on something, and got thirsty and really wanted to buy a can of pop, when she reached into her pocket and found the fifty cents I had given her, just waiting for its moment.* 

From beginning to end, this was an amazing experience, and I have never forgotten it, or that note. The gift I gave was the exact thing in the right place at the perfect time! Heady, heady stuff.

As a little girl, what I had to give was 50¢. That’s tiny. But as a little girl, I was not judging it and deciding that it wasn’t worth giving. When I think about the positive connection, valuable insight, and joy I still get from this memory, it’s actually kind of a big deal. 

These days I look at what I have to give… and judge it. I see the gifts and traits God’s given me, and first I struggle to believe they’re actually gifts, and second I am very afraid that I’ll start using them, and use them all up– and when they're gone that's it, there won’t be any more. 

But the other day I listened to Priscilla Shirer talk about that one time Jesus fed the 5,000+ with five loaves of bread and two fish (a). She pointed out that when faced with hungry multitudes of people, the disciples had two tactics: 

1. Disciples: “Jesus, send these ppl away so they can feed themselves!”

Jesus: "You give them something to eat."

2. Disciples: “Ok well if You’re not going to go with option one, then send us away so we can buy food and bring it back for them, because we literally have five loaves of bread and two fish.” 

Obviously Jesus is not deterred by the facts and asks them for what they have. He then thanked God for it, and proceeded to feed more than 15,000 people, till they were full, with a tiny little bit of food.
Plus! Twelve baskets of leftovers– one for each disciple to take home! Excuse me, what? I could use this miraculous multiplication in my kitchen, because my kids only keep getting more enormous.

So it’s becoming more clear to me that being “faithful with little”(b) really means “trusting God’s faithfulness with little.” He’s not concerned about the amount of what I’ve got. I may still concerned about it, but can I show up with it anyway, thank Him for it, and hand it over to see what He’ll do?

Ok. Yes. I will give what I’ve been given back to the Giver, knowing that He is happy to be the one responsible for the multiplication, and for continuing to make everything I have the exact thing at the right place at the perfect time.

*hi, yes I am from Minnesota, and yes this was a long time ago, when a can of (ahem) pop cost 50¢. 

a- Jesus feeding the five thousand: Matthew 14:13-21,Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-15,, Luke 9:10-17

b- One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. Luke 16:10