Everyday Hope for Special NeedsНамуна

Hope for My Family

A Packed Lunch

We've heard the story a dozen times. Two fishes and five loaves. Thousands of people feasting. Leftovers, even. Just one of Jesus' many miracles you can read about in John 6.

I think about what it must have been like that morning, hours before the great feast on the mountain. Imagine with me, if you will, a bustling house with plenty of noise. Kids, running through the kitchen, pestering their siblings. A pet on the loose, perhaps. Parents, simultaneously cooking, cleaning, and preparing for the day to come. You know, regular life.

A faithful mother, who would love just a few more minutes of sleep, is shooing the kids out of the kitchen to finish their morning chores while she cleans up breakfast and packs lunches. "What can I make today," she ponders, staring into the cupboard for inspiration. Fresh out of figs, so a jelly sandwich is out. (The kids will be disappointed.) Plenty of bread and a fresh haul of fish. Fish and loaves, it is. "It's not their favorite, but they'll be well-fed," she thought.

She finishes packing lunches just in time for Dad to head to work. And after their at-home studies, the kids will help Dad at the market. The Passover Feast was close at hand, you see. It would be a busy day for them all.

Who knows how it happened? Scripture doesn't clue us in to the backstory. All we know is that somehow a boy made it to that mountain with Jesus and a lunch that would be a tool in the hands of God – packed by a faithful, unseen parent.

Hours earlier, the lunch was seemingly insignificant – just one of countless small, everyday tasks that mom finished without fanfare. Dad provided food, and she made it to nourish her kids, probably without a "thank you" in return.

But in the hands of Jesus, that lunch became sustenance for countless others, filling hungry bellies and hungrier souls with the truth that Christ had come.

Any family requires countless sacrifices to keep it moving. The family of a special needs child experiences an added layer of adjustment and deference. Parents and siblings alike often bend for the sake of the one in need. And the more bending required of each member, the more strain added over time. It can feel like a lot of sacrifice without much reward. No one wants to complain, but they do want to know that all the bending, adjusting, and giving up of their lives has been worth it.

Is my sacrifice enough? Am I making a difference?

What God does with a boys' packed lunch of two fishes and five loaves says it all. He takes every service and multiplies it to offer life to more people than we can imagine.

My cousin, Andrew, knows all too well what it is to sacrifice for your family. He grew up as the only "typical" child in his house. Both of his sisters have Down Syndrome, and one is also autistic and has battled leukemia. He had to bend continually as most available time, attention, and money went to his sisters' care. Instead of breaking under the weight of the bending, he found a way to serve them. As a senior in High School, he founded a special needs prom in his community so his sisters could experience the joy of such an event. His family went on to host the prom for 15 years. A simple offering meant for his sisters was multiplied for the joy of so many lives.

Whatever your proverbial "packed lunch" looks like, whether a decadent or humble offering to the world, God wants to use your family to feed more hungry souls than you can imagine.

He sees every sacrifice – how your family is bending – and says, "I am he who will sustain you." (Isaiah 46:4)

Oh, to have been there on the mountain that day. With the disciples scoffing at the lack of food in the boy's lunch. But Jesus said, "Have the people sit down."

Oh, to have seen the look in his parents' eyes when they realized their modest attempt to feed their child would now feed a multitude.

Oh, to believe that God would do the same for you and me – with our humble sacrifices given in great love.

Declare this: I have HOPE for my family. I trust that God will sustain us and use every small sacrifice for His glory and the good of others.