Sit down and partake of the abudance of Christ

I sit in my home in the quiet of the morning, sipping coffee, stroking the dog laying in my lap, and open the Scriptures.  I have a goal to read the Bible in its entirety again, having accomplished this only once since I came to know the Lord all those years ago.  Today, I finish Judges and go on to read chapters 13 and 14 in the gospel of Matthew.  I marvel at all of those red letters staring at me from the page:  The very words of Christ, just sitting there waiting to be ingested, ready to teach and transform me.  I am struck by the fact that these 2 chapters both hold miracles of feeding, of multiplying something infinitesimal and making it abundantly huge.  The first is the feeding of the 5,000 men, besides women and children, and the second is like it, only 1,000 less.  In the first account, people have traveled for miles and miles to hear the teaching of Jesus ("Isn't this just the carpenter's son whose mother is Mary and don't we know His brothers and sisters??") and experience the miraculous.  Many hours in, His disciples come to Him and say, "Lord, it's getting late.  How about we send these people to the neighboring villages so they can get something to eat?"  Jesus, in His quiet and understated way suggests that they feed them.  Can't you imagine the disciples looking incredulously at one another, scrambling in their brains to figure out what in the world to do with that?  And here's the part that jumps out at me this morning.  He asks the disciples in both accounts what they have.  "Just a few loaves and fishes," they reply.   
"Bring them to Me."  Don't you wonder if they're thinking, "Alright, Lord, but it's not going to do any good."  Just like me.  "Alright, Lord.  I'll bring you the little I have, and really it isn't much!  Just myself and my fears, anxieties, inadequacies, sinful tendencies. . ."  

So they bring the little, and Jesus says something that strikes me hard.  "Sit down," He says to the crowd, and to His disciples as well.  This is not not something they can make happen.  They must sit, rest, simply BE, and receive the blessing from the hands of Christ.  And what does He give them?  Everything they need and then some, 12 baskets left over from the feeding of the 5,000 and 7 baskets left over from the feeding of the 4,000.  

So I am reminded again today to pull up to the table of Christ, who takes my meager offering and turns it into a feast, who provides for my every need and then some so that I can spill over onto the people with whom I rub shoulders today, and at the end of this gift of a day I will not feel depleted or worn out emotionally and spiritually. . .I will have baskets-full left over, provided by the hand of Christ Himself.