Praise to the God of Miracles! Praise be His holy Name! Praise the God Who writes His law on our hearts! Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
Thank You, Lord, for all thy benefits. Thank You for broken appliances because they remind us of days gone by and the hard work of living performed by generations before us. Thank You, Lord, for the variety of foods to which we have access because it amazes us at how far Your provisions have traveled. Thank You, Lord, for all our sources of income, learning, and recreation because they allow us the resources to know, love, and serve You in many ways. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word because it nourishes us even when we are not partaking of the Sacrament of the Altar.
I am so sorry, Lord, for the times I have been bitter about the services I have been called to provide especially because I long to LOVE my cross. I am sorry, Lord, for the times I have allowed ugly words and thoughts to escape my mouth and my mind especially because it reveals those hardened parts of my heart that still need Your Spirit to invade. I am sorry for the lies I have believed from the enemy especially because I have been introduced to and will to LIVE Truth, who you are and have always been.
Fragments, leftovers, broken pieces… seemingly insignificant and needing to be discarded, yet, in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 12:10, “when I am weak, then I am strong”, the most significant and needing to be collected, for in them lie the power of God’s miracles! This world can seem rather overcome with darkness, cruelty, hate, division, and confusion – to say the least, but God is good… good… all the time. He never ceases to be God, even when the enemy seems to prowl and have a stronghold in even the most holy places and people. Recently, I was pondering way too much on the doom and gloom and cried out to the Lord, Where are the miracles? He seemed to respond to me:
Your miracle is already here! Can you see it yet? Look closely … closer. They surround you at every moment. Yes… “they”. I constantly bless and work miracles; just look.
I then turned to John 6:12-14:
When they were satisfied, He told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
I was able to “unpack” the scripture a little during my prayer time. I noticed several things. First, the disciples were satisfied, full, satiated before they were able to obey so immediately. We must be filled, maybe even overfilled, with grace that comes from the Sacraments and sacramentals, so that we may be able to obey His commands. The fragments, or leftovers, did not appear substantial until they were gathered, or collected. I use the word collected, because it reminds me of recollect and remembrance. I feel that often the broken pieces of our pride, expectations, strained relationships seem like a mess, which I am sure is similar to what the left overs may have seemed that day, but when we fill ourselves with God’s grace, obey His commands, and reflect and recollect or remember what He has done in our “mess”, we will “see the sign that He has done.” We will notice the miracle.
Another thing that struck me was that the fragments were only from those who had eaten. Well, duh! By mentioning that in scripture, I wonder if there were those who chose not to partake? That is something to chew on. So, we must be overfilled with the Spirit, so that our love, mercy, justice, and forgiveness overflows, leaving fragments for others to collect and notice the miracles! We must remember that He always moves in power – always – He who is, was, and ever shall be!
Fast forward several days of pondering all this, when homeschooling my youngest, we read of the Ark of the Covenant. Did you know that there were fragments of the stone on which the commandments were written? Hmmmm? I am sure I have read that many times over the years of homeschooling and that fact never hit me. God does so much with our fragments, left overs, brokenness. He deepens our trust and hope. He comforts us in our sorrow. He invades the hardest and most hurt and scarred parts of our hearts most especially when they are broken, and He imprints His very life onto them. Truly, “when I am weak, then I am strong.
Let us share with one another what fragments we have collected so that others can “see the sign that He has done” and praise Him and thank Him and know that our miracle is already here.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
