Remembering the difference between needs and wants

A little while after God’s people are freed from Egypt, they get stuck wandering around a desert. A journey that theoretically could have taken weeks turns into a decades long desert camp out. People grumbled and complained even as God showed up among them.

One provision was daily rations called manna. This was bread God gave to the Israelites on a daily basis after their provisions ran out. It could not be hoarded because it would spoil immediately after the meal. This was one way God taught his people to trust him for their daily provision.

My friend Jean once gave me a tutorial on breadfruit, which sounds remarkably similar to manna. It’s a tropical fruit, beautiful and plentiful. It has the consistency of bread dough according to Jean, kind of elastic. It’s rather bland, it spoils so quickly that it is best to eat it immediately upon plucking it from the tree, although an internet search did reveal some breadfruit recipes. It’s rich in nutrients and some experts believe that if we planted enough of these trees it could solve the starvation problem in third world tropical countries. Give a family a breadfruit tree and in theory at least - they would have all they need to survive.

I find this such a fascinating parallel to the manna that God fed the Israelites with all those years ago during their desert dwelling. Neither breadfruit nor manna comes in nacho flavor. Dipping dots do not exist made from these substances. No one would prefer to live off of manna or breadfruit.

But I love the idea of this grand provision in humble form. And I wonder. What if we chose to look for the humble provisions of God for us in the days ahead? Maybe we wish all our kids were home for Christmas; if we think about that too much, we may lose the opportunity to feel the joy that the friends and family bring who are with us this holiday season.

Looking for something special under the tree only to be given a vacuum cleaner instead? Hypothetically speaking, if this ever happens to you, I can say with absolute honesty that it’s a great gift, especially if your current vacuum is on its last legs. Mine came in my favorite shade of red. It wasn’t a sexy gift, but it was exactly what I needed. It was breadfruit. And I was grateful for it. When we go looking for God, it helps us actually see things as they really are…..humble, yes, but abundant too.