Turning stones into building blocks and bread into bread

A Bible reading for this first week of Lent takes us into the wilderness where Jesus had to decide whether to turn stones into bread. He certainly had the power to do so and would have settled an empty stomach right away, but the temptation for the immediate and expedient had no long-term appeal. Why? Jesus knew where He came from and knew where He was going, so hunger pangs, though uncomfortable, did not throw Him off course or trip Him up.

If we trip over stones, maybe we can write about overcoming obstacles.

If we trip over stones, maybe we can write about making a barbecue pit.

If we even see a stone (in Florida they’re rare!), maybe we can find the kind of flat, round, pita-bread-shaped stones that our readers can use to skip-toss across a pond.

Stones of all shapes and sizes can be great tools. Many have a hefty purpose, but if people need bread, they need stones mainly to grind the corn or wheat.

Jesus knew that stones can be a solid foundation for building, but not for making meals. He fed hundreds of hungry people, for example, by turning fish and bread into more fish, more bread.

If you fish around your Idea File or main areas of interest, what fish do you have to share with other people?

If you have even a little bit of anointing oil or oil used for healing or oil of gladness or oil to stop a squeaking door, might it be enough to lubricate a thought, a worry, a spiritually dry spot your readers have?

What grains of truth can you write about to feed someone who's hungry?

What natural God-given ingredients do you have to make hearty loaves of bread or books or poems or stories?

Thank God, Lent gives us time to give who we are and what we have and where we’re going some time and thought and prayer. No hurry, but just so you’ll know: Our readers may be famished for something wholesome, something nourishing, something they can really sink their teeth into, preferably without breaking their incisors on a stone.



(c) 2011, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved.