Little is Much

Prior to reading today’s Good News (John 6, 1-15) I read a reflection on the Art of Letting go by Fr. Rohr. He ends his reflection by saying, Religion has largely become “holding on” instead of letting go. God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go.

That thought and the message from today’s gospel came together for me in the following:

My life has been a struggle of letting go. I’ve found that fear and doubt are obstacles that I constantly face. These two characters trick me and lull me into a false sense of security. There are times that I feel that I don’t have enough to deal with these obstacles and that is when I lose trust and faith in God. How many times has He called on me and I’ve said that I only have ‘five loaves and two fish” thinking that it was not enough to accomplish his task. The little boy in today’s Gospel proves me wrong in that thinking. He was willing to give (to let go) to Jesus what he had – only a small lunch (his security).This little bit that he placed in Jesus’ hands would become a blessing to multitudes. He turned that little into abundance with twelve baskets left over.

In the hands of Jesus everything becomes great and beautiful. We are shown that, “: Little is much if God is in it.”  There is a huge disproportion between what we are and what God can make of us, if we only place ourselves in His hands. "Nothing is impossible for God": It is only when we turn over to Him the little that we have then we realize how he fills in every disproportion between us and him.

Don't trust to hold God's hand; let Him hold yours. Let Him do the holding, and you the trusting.
~Hammer William Webb-Peploe