week 8: enough, and to spare
Hey guys! This week, I felt like our Tuesday lecture was directed right at me. We learned about the Jesus feeding the five thousand and extracted some principles about His love and perfection that I desperately needed these past couple days.
I'm going to be honest, I had a rough week. I had so much to do for school and no motivation, the worst of it being the 15 minute Shakespeare presentation that I had put off preparing until two days before I had to give it. I knew I was going to need some heavenly help if I was going to pull it off, because the hours were just not adding up in my favor.
At the beginning of the lecture, Brother Griffin said something like, "I know that your 50 minute religion classes are usually a place where you can leave your trials and struggles at the door, and just enjoy the Spirit for a little while until you have to go back out to the real world. But today, I would invite you to put your struggles at the forefront of your brain, and see if you can find something this class that will help you with them."
At first I thought, "No, no, no, I don't want to have to think about this stupid presentation while I'm trying to learn about Jesus." But as the lesson got rolling, I realized how much I could apply that would help me balance everything I had going on.
The last story of the day particularly touched me: the feeding of the five thousand in Matthew 14. In this one, Jesus tells his disciples to not let the multitude go away hungry, but disciples inform him that they don't have very much food.
17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
18 He said, Bring them hither to me.
19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
That is so beautiful--the disciples gave Him what they had, and Christ made more out of it than they could have ever on their own--and a little extra.
Sometimes, maybe even most of the time, we just don't have enough resources to get the job done, whether it's in school, work, callings, marriage, whatever. But when Christ comes to us and asks for what we have, don't get discouraged. Give what you've got, and He will make your resources equal to your task, and maybe even a little extra.
I decided I was going to turn my little dilemma over to God. I knew I would never have enough time to do everything on my own, so I asked Him to help me. I worked as hard and as fast as I could on this presentation, while also trying to make time to turn out and serve others, be with my fiance, read my scriptures, get enough sleep.
And guess what? I got it done, with enough extra time to take my Henry V quiz I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish. Giving the presentation went just fine. I couldn't believe how smoothly everything went.
Christ makes everything possible. Whether it's finishing schoolwork, devoting energy to callings, spending time with family, or any other responsibility--with Christ, you can do it. He will help you! I know He helped me this week!
Remember how much your Savior loves you! Perfectly, infinitely, and incomprehensibly!
If you want to learn more, lds.org is the official website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For more about Jesus Christ, go here. To read the full chapter of Matthew 14, go here. Thank you so much for visiting!
Artwork: "The New Jerusalem" by Dirk A. Walker
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