A storm delivered the loaves
By H.M. Wyeth
Special to The Advertiser
Supply and demand.
We hear and read a lot about it, usually when the equation is unbalanced.
For instance, the supply of available hotel rooms now exceeds the demand from visitors; demand for food bank distributions exceeds supply.
How do we balance the equation?
Jesus balanced it when he fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. (Luke 9:11-17)
All the Gospel accounts contrast Jesus' view of the situation with his Apostles'. While his students complained of having to cope with a demand that greatly exceeded their supply, Jesus looked up to heaven and gave thanks.
He then began handing out bread and fish until everyone had more than enough to eat.
Supply met demand.
What happened? Was it just a one-time event, or a demonstration of a principle that anyone can use, anytime?
In November 1982, when Hurricane 'Iwa was churning its way across Kaua'i, another volunteer and I were making tuna sandwiches for a community shelter.
As we got down to our last loaf of Wonder bread and tin of tuna, and realized that we had many people yet to feed, we both began talking about the loaves and fishes, giving thanks that the love of Christ was as present in this shelter.
We heard banging on the door. We first thought it was a branch hitting the building. The sound continued, so I opened the door and almost fell face-first into a wall of bread. The man who ran a nearby bakery had just sent over his entire stock!
So we now had a truckload of fresh bread for our tables.
And the tuna? We never asked about the tuna. We just kept dishing it out until no one was hungry anymore. The equation was balanced.
Among the unusual events we witnessed during 'Iwa time, this was to me the clearest example of how the divine law of supply and demand works. The equation was balanced when I stopped thinking about the noise, opened the door and found the supply ready and waiting.
Another lesson: The bakery was locally famous for its gourmet bread. God provides the best, not just the adequate.
Supply and demand. Even our common phrase puts supply first. It takes demand to make us realize that the supply is already there. Under divine law, the law of God, the equation is always balanced.
Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, wrote: "In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes, spirit, not matter, being the source of supply."
Heu'ionalani "Meph" Wyeth is an assistant to the Christian Science Committee on Publication for Hawai'i and lives on Kaua'i. She's also first reader for Christian Science Society, Kaua'i.
Expressions of Faith, a weekly column, welcomes written works, 500-600 words, by people active in faith organizations. E-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com or call 525-8035. Articles submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
