Multiplying Bread

With five loaves of bread and two small fish Christ was able to feed five thousand. Soon after this miracle, He declared that He was the Bread of Life and that “whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life” (John 6:54). When we partake of the Sacrament, we eat the bread in remembrance of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us. We also covenant to always remember Him. In the moment that we are eating the bread of the Sacrament, it is perhaps easier to think of and remember our Savior than at almost any other time throughout the week. But if we can take the focus and attention and level of worship that we feel when we are taking that bread during the five minutes or so that we have for the sacrament, and multiply it throughout the week, then we can get a lot closer to always remembering Him. There are 10,080 minutes in a week, and taking out time for sleep and other essential tasks that require our complete and undivided attention, we still have about 5000 minutes in the week that we have the opportunity to think about and remember Jesus and all that He has done for us. And just as Jesus took five pieces of bread and filled five thousand, we can take the five minutes of the Sacrament and multiply it to fill five thousand minutes throughout the week. I’m not saying it’s always practical or advisable to devote every waking moment to steadfastly contemplating our Savior to the exclusion of all else. We are here on this Earth to grow and learn and think about a wide variety of good and important things. But perhaps we ought to examine just how far we are multiplying the five minutes from the Sacrament. If we can’t fill the full five thousand, what can we fill? Five hundred? One Hundred? Even just another five? And if we find that we are struggling at the beginning to multiply very much, even Jesus Himself started out small. When He multiplied the wine at the Wedding Feast in Cana, it wasn’t enough for five thousand, but rather for a much, much smaller number. I know that the harder we strive to multiply our five minutes of Sacrament throughout our week, the closer we will grow to our Savior, and the more of our time He will give back to us, even twelve baskets full.