Bread and Fish

I became pregnant when my first son was barely over a year old. I was happy to bepregnant again and looking forward to the new baby, but at the same time I wasconcerned that I would never love another child as much as I loved my young son. Thefeelings I had encountered during my first year of motherhood were unlike anything ever known. How could I have those feelings again for a second child? I found comfortin an unlikely scripture. Since I was very young I had known the strange story aboutJesus taking the lunch of one boy and feeding thousands of people. The moral of thestory usually centered around the importance of sharing our food, and this is indeed alesson I continually need to learn. However, the story spoke to me anew as I consideredmy unborn child and worried about my own capacity for love. I realized that all I couldoffer were my own five loaves of bread and two fish. So I offer them to the savior andask him to miraculously feed thousands. I offer my limited capacity for love – the heartof an all too imperfect mother – and ask God to multiply my offering so much that thisbrand new human being can be born into and live in love. Just like the boy couldn’timagine his small lunch feeding a crowd of five thousand, neither could I imagine havingenough love for these two young children. But God is in the business of makingsomething out of nothing; God takes our offerings, no matter how small, and amazes us.