Miracles Often Happen Through the Generosity of Our Hearts

“How many loaves do you have?”
Jesus Christ, Gospel of Matthew

“How many loaves do you have?” may not seem like a very significant question, but it uncovers a great deal of truth about human nature. First, it challenges our honesty. When we are asked how much do we have of anything, a caution alarm goes off in our guts. “Do we tell the truth or don’t we?“ dashes through our minds. If we tell the truth, we might have to share and deep down we are afraid to make ourselves that vulnerable. We may suffer from a sense of lack; of always believing that there may not be enough left for us if we share what we have with others. So we will sometimes fudge on the truth or even say “Sorry, I’m all spent out,” knowing we‘ve passed a lie through our teeth.

Then there are situations where the idea of sharing causes a self-righteous streak to kick-in. “I worked hard to get what I’ve got and I’m tired of sharing my hard earned dollars with bums who don’t want to work!” may come roaring off our tongues. Usually this judgmental self-righteousness is fueled by greed or a sense of always feeling cheated out of everything. Again, it’s about us and the internal issues that we’ve not dealt with over the course of our lives. It’s not about those “bums.” We don’t know who chooses to work and who doesn’t. We don’t know the life story of those “bums.” We don’t know if they are mentally capable of working or not. Many of the people we term as “bums” are bi-polar, schizophrenic, or victims of child abuse who can't afford proper treatment or medication. Yet we often misjudge them and treat them like the bad guy to comfort ourselves when we refuse to be generous.

There are various scriptural stories about Jesus feeding the multitudes. In John’s version, a boy comes forward with five loaves of bread and two fish. It’s all he has, and as is typical of children, he has no qualms about sharing. He isn’t concerned about not having enough for himself when tomorrow roles around. He’s also not concerned about having worked hard to pay for these items. Likewise, he isn’t scouring the crowd looking for worthless bums who simply want to loaf-off of him, so to speak. His heart is in a pure place. He hasn’t yet been twisted ad tainted by evil desires of self-preservation at all costs. This boy is in-sync with Jesus.

Through this boy, Jesus is able to show the crowds the importance of unlocking our jaded hearts. The boy first shares with Jesus, Jesus blesses what is shared. He is grateful for the boy’s generosity, and as Jesus passes portions of the bread and fish around, everyone in the crowd is touched by love. Their hearts open and they begin to admit that they, too, have resources to share. Suddenly there is a great abundance of food produced purely by love.

This isn’t just a one-time biblical story. I was talking with someone recently who works with the poor in Mexico. One recent Christmas, he pulled together a group of volunteers to take enough food and gifts to benefit 250 people who live on a garbage dump in one of the border towns. When they arrived, they were amazed to find over 800 people waiting to be fed and gifted. In their minds they knew there wasn’t enough to give, and yet in their hearts love triumphed again. By the end of the day, everyone had eaten their fill and everyone had received a gift.

Miracles often happen out of the generosity of our hearts. What we give we also receive in return. Allow your heart to give and you will also allow your soul to shine!