Humbled

Wednesday night is bible study  night. Probably the highlight of the week really. It's great time of hanging out with people and sharing food and talking about God. I love it.

We usually all pitch in to help out with the meal, but this week there were a few people absent, and we were a bit last minute in deciding what we were actually going to have. So I said I'd make a pasta bake, thinking I'd pick up the things I'd need from woolies after taking the kids to the library on Wednesday morning.

But I forgot. I'd packed the kids back into the car and was on the way out when I remembered. Sigh. No way was I going to go back in, get another park, unload three kids and find a trolley. Let alone push them through woolies with no snack bribery on hand.

So I resign myself to making a pasta bake out of whatever I had on hand at home. Surely I could scrounge enough to feed eight to ten people right? Someone else was bringing garlic bread, so there would be that at least to fill up on. No pressure.

On getting home, I dig out 500 grams of mince and another box of pre made pasta sauce from the freezer. I've got pasta in the cupboard. I've got carrots and zuccini in the fridge. There are tins of tomato and tomato paste in the cupboard. I don't have enough pre grated cheese, but I do have a half a block in the fridge that is easy enough to grate.

I end up with enough pasta bake to feed fifteen people.

As I'm making this, I'm really struck by how God has provided for us. He has given enough to make a last minute meal with the stuff that is just in the cupboards and fridge already! There is enough pasta bake to feed everyone with left overs. And I still have cupboards and fridge with stuff in them. It's not as though I used my very last scrap of cheese or bit of pasta even. I've still got tins and packets of food, just waiting to be used.

We have been blessed to overflowing, and yet I've somehow missed it. I've gotten complacent and demanding. I want more all the time. What I have isn't enough for some reason.

I'm reminded of the Israelites after fleeing Egypt, when God gave them manna in the desert to eat. They were instructed that they didn't need to collect more than they would need for one day, because God would always provide. The bible tells us that there were some people who disobeyed this and did collect more, but that it went bad. It's like we doubt God and feel the need to hoard to survive, rather than trust our creator.

I'm unbelievable humbled by this simple experience of God's provision for our bible study. Thank you Lord for the abundance you give us every day.