This month I’ve had a new-found freedom. I have 3 kids in school 3 days a week. 3 days! I haven’t been regularly kid free like that in 8 years! With this freedom suddenly comes new ideas and excitement, but also responsibility. I know that with this precious time I must use it to be productive with the things that are just easier to do on my own. Grocery shop, meal plan, pay bills, workout, paint furniture, meet a friend for coffee, clean and organize every closet in the house–you get the idea. If I do all this in my kid free time, ideally I should be available for my kids when they get home for homework, free time, or activities.
You want to guess how many days I’m THAT productive? Maybe 1 out of 3 a week? Or what about the day I spent curled up reading a book? ( I was trying to get it finished to take back to the library.) Sometimes, I look back at my day and think “I wasted so much time doing this or that, I should have been doing…” fill it for yourself.
There are lots of moments in our life where wastefulness creeps in. And I would say there are a lot of moments where we become very frustrated or guilt-ridden about these. What about the job I took and then didn’t really work out? What about all the classes I took for a career that never happened? What about the house that we just fixed up and then had to sell? What about the day I spent perusing the internet instead of doing the work I should have been doing? These times of waste can bring in a sense of unworthiness and burden. Unworthy for not living up to our own expectations or that of others. Burdensome because we keep struggling to prove our usefulness.
In John 6: 1-15 Jesus performs a miracle with food. 5000 men and then even more women and children were following Jesus around because they had seen him do healings and other miracles. They wanted more. Jesus is setting the stage to teach the disciples and us important spiritual lessons in a very visual way. They have nothing to give everyone but a small boy’s lunch and Jesus prays over the food and has the disciples start to distribute it to the crowds. After they all eat and are full (5000+) he says this in verse 12, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”
Jesus gave the gift of bread to the people at this gathering. They all received what they needed and had leftovers. Instead of leaving it for the birds, they gathered it and had 12 basketfuls of pieces still!
Friends, when Jesus gives gifts, they do not go to waste. He sees it all and pays attention to the smallest of details. Sometimes my day spent perusing the internet is actually part of a gift. A gift of free time and rest. A gift to get new ideas and reach out to a couple friends. Perhaps the degree I received isn’t being used like I thought, but the hours I spent learning those concepts and ideas strengthened my mind for new lessons.
Satan sneaks in with the temptation to look at what we’ve done and been through as useless trash. But God reminds us that he picks up the broken leftover pieces and can still use them. They are parts of the gifts originally given but now look a little different.
Your work, your life, your efforts are not waste. Jesus was perfect his whole life and then was killed for it. But it was not a waste. Putting all the sin that he took on the cross to death was necessary for eternal life for all of us. He knows the needs. He’s walked the walk of frustrating days. He’s felt the temptations and weights Satan throws on us. But he showed us the grace on the other side. Take hold of it. Hear his words.
“Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”