The Great Multiplier – Little is Much When God is in It

I love hearing my youngest grandson rattle off his multiplication tables. It reminds me of when I learned to multiply as a child. I have used that knowledge many times over the years. 9x9=81; 6x7=42; 8x3=24 – I just did that and I didn’t even need a calculator! LOL!

I was thinking about the example of multiplication when Jesus sent the disciples out to find food to feed the crowd of over 5,000 men, plus women and children. This story always astounds me, because here we are in this 21st century with a restaurant or a fast food franchise on almost every corner and to come up with meals to feed that many in a short measure of time would be impossible. But, then enters the GREAT MULTIPLIER. They are in the middle of nowhere and the crowd is hungry. Of course, the first thing the disciples think and say “Send them home, Lord, so they can eat!” Now if that were today, we’d at least have a power bar or a little snack to tide us over. But those folks were thinking one thing: “Jesus of Galilee is there and He can heal us, restore us, bring freedom to our hearts and souls.” Jesus’ response was “See if there is any food in the crowd, and it turned out that a Mom packed her LITTLE boy a LITTLE lunch to tide him over and that lunch was the LITTLE that Jesus needed for the crowd -- five loaves of bread and two fish.

“Bring them here to me,” Jesus said. And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children." (Matthew 14:13-21). WOW! (Food for Thought: Where did those baskets come from? Maybe the little boy carried his lunch in a basket, and Jesus even MULTIPLIED the baskets??)

Co-partnering with the disciples and that LITTLE boy, Jesus was able to feed the masses by MULTIPLYING what LITTLE they had on hand. He is the Master MULTIPLIER. Just as He multiplied the LITTLE that day for that massive crowd, today, we are the chosen partners He uses. Imagine that little boy's story the rest of his life? Jesus used ME! He takes LITTLE and makes BIG out of it. "Little is much when God is in it!"

A LITTLE shepherd boy, David, with a LITTLE sling and stone – took down a GIANT. “Little is much when God is in it.” Do you feel LITTLE today? Do you have LITTLE to give God? It doesn't matter how large or small, when we give our time, our talents and our treasure to God, He will MULTIPLY it. What if, today, we present Him with what we have? Maybe a LITTLE prayer, a LITTLE donation, a LITTLE kind word, a LITTLE love, a LITTLE comfort, a LITTLE care, a LITTLE meal, a LITTLE act of service. No matter what the LITTLE is – as God's partners, our LITTLE just might be what God uses to multiply many blessings to others. Maybe inviting someone to dinner today or giving away items we no longer need, or taking a meal to someone. It may seem little to us, but BIG to them. Yes, little becomes BIG when we accept our partnership with our Master MULTIPLIER! LITTLE is much when God is in it.

The Ant Mentality

Day 144 of Photo Inspirations -- The Ant Mentality
Yesterday was such a spectacular day.  We appreciated it so much more because it was a day without torrential rain.  On our morning walk, we were set up for noticing nature -- the cactus growing on a neighbor's rock, the new flowers planted by another neighbor, the beautiful flowers planted so meticulously around our clubhouse......and crossing the road where we walked, was a line of ants.  I sang out "The ants go marching one by one...hoorah, hoorah!"  And my friend told me about an ants' video that she had seen --  working as a team carrying a piece of food.  Before long, some of those ants moved to the back as another group of ants took over and gave relief!  Teamwork!

What an amazing God we have -- He was so intentional with His creation -- I love how He uses props to teach us valuable lessons.  Quite possibly, He created ants..,..yes, for food for some of His creatures, but for you and I -- to pay attention to their ways of living in community and teams:

1.   Ants are driven by purpose -- obviously the ants my friend talked about had a sole job description of finding food for the colony.  That purpose is what they gave their time and energy into.  All for one!  One for all!

2. Ants work as a team --   they work together to achieve something great.  Teamwork makes the dream work!

3. Ants have a time to rest and a time to work -- ants have to work with the natural seasons. So in summer they gather their food and in winter they hibernate. Hi ho. Hi ho. It's off to work we go!

4. Ants think big -- ants can seem like one of the smallest and insignificant insects on the planet, but the colonies they build and the contribution to their society, is MAJOR!   "Little is MUCH, when God is in it!"

6. Ants carry workloads they can handle -- although they're small, ants can handle up to one hundred times their weight.  We will never know our limits unless we push ourselves to them.

7. Ants serve one another -- living for just ourselves is a lonely existence. Serving people goes that one step further and asks ‘what can I do for you?' The little things matter.  No one can do everything, but everyone can do something!