May 2017

 

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

John 4:31-34

Have you ever loved doing something so much that the actual activity becomes something you need to have—something you hunger for—something that is more important than a good meal? We all need to fill our bodies, but feeding our souls is sometimes even more important.

I’m going to get a bit more personal here than I normally want to. But I can identify with this spiritual food in a big way. Only recently I was photographing tulips, hyacinths, and crocuses that we had growing in pots in our living room. I plan to use the resulting pictures as illustrations for the devotional book I’m putting together.

As the flowers grew I photographed them in every way I could. I could not leave my camera alone. Every time I walked by, I saw something different I wanted to capture. To look at the blooms through my viewfinder was a joy that was probably incomprehensible to most. Every day new things happened within those pots—ever more exciting things to photograph. I took literally hundreds of pictures during the short period of the flowers’ lives, trying not to waste that precious time. Was I overdoing things? I don’t think so. I was hungry. Hungry to capture the beauty God had provided—beauty I wished to share with others. Hungry for as many colourful images I could gather.

Jesus was hungry too. His most important food was not the food his disciples had brought him from town, but the great passion he had to do God’s will. He hungered to tell everyone about God’s kingdom. He came to earth to reach as many as he could before the end of his three-year ministry. Demonstrating God’s love and changing lives are what he lived for. His own needs were secondary in importance.

Following Jesus and doing God’s will is not a burden, but a delight. When I remember photographing the flowers, I can see how that was true for me in what I felt called to do. Yes, it was many hours of work, but not in any way a burden. It was a delightful time, rewarded with results that left me thankful.

Are you hungry?

marja