Loving Ways

John 6:1–15

Loving Ways

“When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. “
John 6:15 (NRSV)

Jesus had just finished feeding the five thousand with loaves and fishes.  He had just performed a miracle, but a very practical one.  The crowd was hungry, and he knew he had the power to feed them.  Yet he wanted no reward, or recognition.

My grandmother cooked for us all the time.  We’d run into the woods behind her house and pick blackberries by the buckets so she’d bake us a pie in a kitchen so tiny, she’d roll out the dough on the kitchen table.  When my family and I moved to Virginia, I stayed with her while I was in college in New York.  She tried so hard to cook sausage gravy for me, but she couldn’t imagine using that much black pepper! 

She poured her heart into food.  But she would have been mortified to take any credit for it.  That wasn’t why she did it.  She knew we needed to eat and grow, and it pleased her to provide the means.  She simply loved us.

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Father, help me to always remember those who taught me to love, as you have love them.

Lori Earls