No waste!

And that's what Jesus said in John's account of the feeding of 5,000. Let nothing be wasted. Not one fragment. Pick it all up, every crumb.

That's odd. He had just miraculously multiplied bread and there is a record of a second such provision later. He could multiply at will. The atoms of earth must listen to their Creator. There can be no want when the Good Shepherd is providing. "I came to give you abundant life." " I wish above all that you prosper..."

But don't let a crumb get away.

There's got to be a message here beyond Divine frugality. If God is going to provide my needs so graciously, why do I have to worry if food isn't properly gathered up and stored? Why refrigerators and cupboards and all other storage devices, if my God shall supply all my needs?

Is it partnership? God gives abundantly but expects us to steward wisely? Not because He can't keep providing, but because stewardship of bread carries over into even more important stewardships. The way a man cares for material things is a signal about his spiritual ways too.

Or is this about wasted lives? Is God saying that though there be multitudes of humans on this globe, each one is so very important to Him and ought to be important to us? That He cares about little things and little details?

God does not waste. When we were being guided around the disaster of Mt. St Helen's, we were told that the logs laying everywhere around us were not really going to be wasted, as it seemed. They were all being renewed as they lay there. From death would come life.

Sparrows fall. But they feed other wildlife, and the cycle continues. Nothing is wasted.

People fall. Jesus resurrects them. People fail. He turns their indiscretions into teaching tools. He rebuilds. Nothing has ever been wasted. He showed in this strange story just how he feels about it. When we get all worried that we've truly blown it, and disappointed Him and everyone around us, let's recall that Jesus said to the disciples,