Wow, it really is amazing how fast time goes by. I checked how long it had been since I wrote a Thursdays Child. Approximately a year and a half. I have been trying to concentrate on short story writing over at www.paul-akaandrewpearson.blogspot.com. Between that, and researching how to publish ebooks, time has kind of gotten away from me. Hopefully before too long I'll be able to get Thursdays Child and my kids stories on an ebook. Until then let's get back into Thursdays Child.
I often hear a debate about whether people should pray before they do things as they go about their daily routine. Mainly praying before they eat, or before bed. The argument is, “It’s just a rote prayer, that isn't being said with any meaning anyway, so what’s the point?” Actually one of the definitions of the word rote says, “without meaning.” Well, let’s look at the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand.
After Jesus healed the lame man, and was harassed by the Jewish leaders, He crossed the Sea of Galilee. He went into the hills and sat down with His disciples. Soon a crowd of people came looking for Him. The culture at that time was a very male centered culture, therefore only the men were counted, and there were five thousand men in that crowd. Now, if we take into consideration that maybe some of the men were alone, maybe some brought their wives, possibly others had wives and kids. I guess it’s possible some women came on their own, not accompanied by a man. We know there was at least one boy there as we’ll see in a minute. It makes you wonder if you could double that number of five thousand. To put that number into perspective, I imagine a large concert or sports arena that might hold ten thousand people.
When Jesus saw these people coming up the hill, He asked His disciples “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” Philip answered Him by saying “It would take a small fortune to feed them all.” Then Andrew spoke up and said “ There’s a young boy here with five loaves of barley and two fish, but what good will that do with this large of a crowd." This also makes me wonder if some kids, if they were old enough to be out by themselves also followed Jesus but weren’t counted in the five thousand. So given all the different options, the total number of people could have been significantly higher than five thousand.
Jesus told the disciples to have everyone sit down, and here’s the point I want to make, He Gave Thanks To God, then He passed out the bread and fish. Now imagine again, that large sports arena. Walking up and down the rows of people handing out bread and fish. You know you only started with five loaves of bread and two fish, but it just doesn't seem to run out. Then, after everyone is fed, and has had enough to get full, the disciples pick up the leftovers, and have enough bread to fill twelve baskets. When the people saw the miracle, they started exclaiming that Jesus is surely the prophet they have been waiting for. Knowing they were going to try to make him their king, He left right away and went higher into the hills.
I've always been taught that God provides us with everything we have. Jobs to make money, to pay rent or mortgage, food, cars, and any extras we may be able to afford. Everything we have God has provided, so even if seems habitual, and meaningless I feel we should follow Jesus’ example and give thanks to God for our food before we eat. I’m not going to say there haven’t been times my family hasn't prayed before a meal, I’m just saying that, even if we’re praying the memorized, rote prayers, we are still making a conscious effort to say them, therefore we’re making a conscious effort to thank God for what he has provided.
Kids are taught early in Sunday school classes and kids’ church to offer prayer requests, to ask God for things they need, or things other people need. We also need to teach them to give thanks when those prayers are answered, and even though it seems redundant at times, to teach them to give thanks in all things.
Thank you as always for searching with me. Let me know what you think, I’m always interested in your feedback.
Paul
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