from Day 12 of my Lenten devotional email series on the prodigal son and yes, it’s never too late to join us!
Texts: Psalm 126, Gen. 21:1-21, Mark 6, 35-56, Luke 15: 16
“He was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.”
When I left my job as a family doctor and became a “stay at home” mom for the first time ever, I was determined to figure out how to put dinner on the table. Mostly because EVERYBODY IS ALWAYS HUNGRY at my house. They want dinner. As in, EVERY single night. And breakfast and lunch and snacks. FORTHELOVE.
But how hard could it be, right?
MmmHmm.
REALLY hard is how hard, as all you moms can surely stand up and shout a hearty AMEN. And despite the fact that I write about feeding my family quite a bit, I still struggle with it some days. A lot of days, actually.
But slowly over months and years I became pretty proficient at feeding us. And somewhere along the way I realized that as simple as it sounds, feeding my people is part of God’s work for me. It’s a beautiful and sacred thing. It’s so ordinary and necessary and life-giving and humbling and rewarding.
But it also drives me crazy—thinking of new things to make, the constantly dirty kitchen, the millions of dishes, the sheer amount of times you have to handle the food by the time you’ve eaten it and are cleaning it up. It’s easy to dream of a bigger purpose for my life. Wasn’t I made for more than this?
I don’t know if I was or not but I do know that Jesus spent His life feeding people and caring for their most basic needs. The God of the universe thinks so much of feeding people that the night before He died, when He gave His last will and testament, he told his disciples to carry on the sacred work of feeding His sheep.
In the prodigal story, the younger son is in the far country and he’s squandered everything he received from his father’s estate. He’s so hungry that he’d take pig’s food. And no respectable Jew would ever have considered that.
But the scripture says, no one gave him anything. That verse haunted my dreams at night when I was studying the prodigal story last year. No one gave him anything. He’s outside the fold. He has wandered from the pasture, like all sheep do. Like you and I constantly do. He is in dangerous territory because he has rebelled against the one person who always made sure he had food—his father.
And there’s more feeding in Mark’s Gospel today where a crowd shows up for Jesus.
5,000 men and their families. And they’re hungry. The disciples want to send them away but Jesus simply says, “Give them something to eat.”
We are the sheep of God’s pasture and it’s not our job to change the world. It’s our job to stay in the pasture and eat. And eat and eat and eat some more. To receive His Word, to receive the Supper, to stay close to the Shepherd.
Then mostly by our fumbling, we can lead other lost sheep to the bounty of God’s table so they can eat too.
Our job is to eat and then share that good food with our neighbor, starting with the ones who live in our houses.
You don’t need to change the world.
Just make dinner.
It’s practically the same thing.
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Loving this series Edie. Even though I am not observing Lent it has still been very beneficial. 🙂 I love how you are weaving your own story and experiences in with the story of the prodigal son. 🙂
I’ve missed some of this, but I will catch up. I needed this today. Thank you for taking the time to share.
My husband (thank you, Lord!) does most of the cooking here and the grocery shopping. However, I help with the prep a lot. And, yes – the number of times I’ve touched, smelled, cut, diced, rinsed, drizzled, etc, etc, etc, the food by the time it makes it to my mouth … wow. And I am always the clean up person, mostly because I am a freak about a clean kitchen. I am learning that kitchens are to be lived in and unless everybody is hungry and grouchy, the kitchen simply is not going to always be neat and clean. Good post! (PS – I love The Prodigal God by Timothy Kellar, which highlights the elder son. So amazing how so much story and meaning can be packed into a few sentences, isn’t it?)
Happy Tuesday! 🙂
“You don’t need to change the world.
Just make dinner.
It’s practically the same thing.”
I love this. Between homeschooling, outside commitments, and hubs’ inhumane work schedule, cooking and cleaning sure seem like superhuman acts. “feeding my people is part of God’s work for me. It’s a beautiful and sacred thing. It’s so ordinary and necessary and life-giving and humbling and rewarding.” Thanks for the encouragement, this is beautifully said. It’s amazing how often we need reminding that the mundane or frustrating tasks in our day have such spiritual significance.
I could just read what you write 24/7. It’s like talking to a friend. Thank you for your posts!!
This was such a lovely post to read this morning! In January my husband and I welcomed our first baby and I have been on maternity leave struggling with the fact that my days consist of feeding, diapers, and laundry—exclusively! I didn’t realize how hard it would be to slow down my busy life and just care for a little one. Your post was a needed reminder of how important this seemingly simple, yet very hard work, really is.
P.S. I’ve loved reading your blog for the past two years…it’s about time I wrote to tell you!
Beautiful post today, my friend. Feeding people is leading people! xo
Edie,
I just love you and your writing and am inspired by your communication every time I read. Thank you for this beautiful post. If it is okay with you, I am going to paint some of your sayings from this and post them in my kitchen. I will designate your name at the bottom of the quote. You are a gift.
I love this – thank you! Sometimes cooking and preparing a meal becomes so mundane and yet it’s the thing that keeps us alive from day to day. As a fellow lover of cooking and all things food, this is what I needed to read this week.
Grateful for finding your words today. They were there at just the right time. Many blessings to you and your lovely family.