"But she came and knelt before him, saying,
'Lord, help me.' And he answered, 'It is not right to take the children's
bread and throw it to the dogs.' She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'O
woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.' And her
daughter was healed instantly." (Matthew 15:25-28 ESV)
I am the main bread slicer in our house. Having
returned from the shopping trip up the road with an uncut loaf, I thought a
bit of pro-active slicing would be in order, to save the exaggerated wedges
that are produced by some of the family. As a result I sliced up two-thirds
of the loaf to have enough for the day’s quota of sandwiches, toast etc.
Slices that would easily fit in the toaster, to save it from hunks of bread
rammed into it that bulge out of the top.
With no-one else about it fell to me to clear up
the resultant breadcrumbs. Most household chores are cyclical. Not that I
minded, but the inevitability of here we go again, again, and the
predisposition of someone faced with another of the tiny, but never-ending,
household tasks to clean up like the kitchen, I swept the wholemeal beads of
bread off the work surface and into my hand.
I looked at the collection of soft new bread on
the work surface and thought: Waste not, want not; so I scooped up some of
the fresh breadcrumbs and ate them. As I surveyed the worktop, into my head
dropped the story of this gentile Syro-phoenician woman with Jesus in the
verses above.
In her discourse with Jesus she was desperate but
determined. She knew in her heart that He was special. According to the
current chatter, this Jesus was able to bring healing to her little girl. By
an act of faith, honour and wisdom her request was heard by Him and
answered.
It made me wonder what we might miss from God;
just because we let God’s gifts for us drop to the floor, doing the same
routines with God unbidden into them, crumbs left ungathered?
All those beads of God’s wisdom, power and
influence spread around waiting for us gather them up, to receive and depend
on. To be applied as a saving grace, or a promise of hope for us to take
into the world to today.
So where is God today, when we are doing the
ordinary and repetitive tasks of the day?
Right with us, as He is always, waiting to be
asked, but what gifts have we let fall to the floor, maybe because we have
not had the thought to ask and receive?
"so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and
individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to
the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our
faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the
one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity;
the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with
cheerfulness." (Romans 12:5-8 ESV)
PRAYER: LORD, we know that You are with us always,
even in the humdrum chores of life. Please open our eyes and remind us who
it is we are serving so that our eyes are set on You and not on the floor.
May we know the joy of the Lord as we carry out our tasks today, in Jesus'
name, amen.
Rod Marshall
Roderick Henry Marshall's Christian Reflections
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