God (ALWAYS) Provides

When I was a junior in high school, I competed in Forensics with a speech about the power of a positive attitude. And it was a rather easy speech to write because there is book after book and study after study which provides mountains of evidence that a positive attitude can single-handedly change not only our outlook in life, but the entirety of our lives.

The power of a positive attitude has become a cash cow for a great many people, whether inspirational speakers, motivational authors, life-coaches, or whoever thought up those posters which remind us about the impact of attitude, leadership, courage, and even customer service.
[A side note: if you're looking for a laugh, check out http://demotivators.com/viewall.html for a hilarious parody of these posters.] Even the new popular, Oprah-endorsed book "The Secret" is based on this fundamental truth: when you put positive energy into the world, good things will come your way.

This is kind of campy to me. And there's plenty more fluff where that came from. Corny quotes about positive attitudes abound ("Your attitude will determine your altitude in life"), but there are quotes which remind us just how powerful this thing called attitude really is (like Thomas Jefferson's quote, "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude"). And then there's my favorite:

"The last of the human freedoms [is] to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
(Viktor Frankl)

But how often do we live what we have seemed to establish as a universal truth? We get annoyed and peeved by small setbacks or the inconsideration of others. We get frustrated and anxious at the first hint of a challenging or ambiguous situation. And we ALL know how much easier it is to complain about something or someone than it is to find (or work towards) a solution.

And this is exactly where we find the disciples in today's Gospel (Mt. 14:13-21). The disciples take in the large crowds, the far distance to any kind of market, and the late hour and declare the situation hopeless. But with Christ, NO situation is EVER hopeless. Because God ALWAYS provides for us.

And as this miracle of the five loaves and two fish attests, God doesn't just provide "enough." God provides more than we could ever need (hence the twelve wicker baskets of leftovers).

Scripture is full of these truths. Our cup runs over. Knock and He will answer. Ask and you will receive. If God closes a door, He'll open a window. Okay, maybe the last one isn't in Scripture. But today, St. Paul says it best in our second reading (Romans 8:35, 37-39):

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Why wouldn't God provide for us? His love for us is infinite and His desire for us is to BASK in that love and EMBRACE the fullness of life. No matter what.

This should be all the motivation we ever need.