Loaves and Fishes - When our efforts are somehow multiplied and magnified

Feeding the Five Thousand, by James Tissot

I recently watched this beautiful depiction of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and found a very personal lesson there for me. 

I—like many people, I suspect—often feel inadequate, that I don’t have much to offer. But as I watched this video and reread the parallel accounts in the New Testament of the Savior feeding the multitudes (see Matthew 14:15-20, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:5-14), I was reminded yet again of His ability to transform our “little” into “enough and to spare.”

In Matthew 14:15-20, we read:

15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

18 He said, Bring them hither to me.

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

Like the multitudes surrounding the Savior, there are people all around us who are hungry—emotionally, spiritually, physically. Aware of our personal inadequacies, we may be tempted to step back, to “send (them) away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals” (vs. 15). However, one of the important lessons of these verses is that we should bring our “five loaves and two fishes”—our meager “baskets” of time, talents, temporal means, and most of all, our willingness--to the Savior and allow Him to bless them (vs. 19). As we do, and then go forward to serve in faith, these imperfect offerings are magnified into nourishing gifts of love that help others “eat” and be “filled” (vs. 20).

I love the tender way that Elder James E. Faust teaches this principle in this talk from the April 1994 General Conference.

-Marilyn

Who loves baking—and eating--bread.