I Want To Feed Them And I Have Nothing

You want them round.

That is the actual feeling and it is worth saying first, because it usually gets skipped. You want those people in your kitchen. You have wanted it for months. You think about it more than you would admit to any of them.

And there is rice.

That is roughly the inventory. Rice, a couple of things that go with rice, and whatever is at the back, and about four days until anything changes.

So the invitation does not get sent. Not out of shame exactly, it is more practical than that: you cannot ask four people to come over and give them rice.

And underneath there is a sentence that never quite gets said, which is that people who have people over are further along than you are, and you will get there.

So let me say the first thing plainly, before anything practical.

Nothing here is going to suggest you get anything in.

Not a few things to make it work. Not something cheap to go alongside. This whole article happens with what is in that kitchen tonight, because the moment the answer involves going out and getting something, it stops being available to the person actually reading this.

Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have

There is a moment in Acts where somebody asks for money and gets a sentence that starts with an inventory.

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee. (Acts 3:6, King James Version)

Silver and gold have I none.

He says it plainly. There is no embarrassment in it, no apology, and no attempt to make the shortfall sound better than it is. The man asked for money and the answer opens with a straight statement that there is not any.

And then: but such as I have give I thee.

Such as I have. Whatever it is. That phrase does not name an amount and does not compare it to anything, and it moves straight from the empty half to the giving without a pause in between.

You are able to give such as you have rather than nothing at all, and an empty half of an inventory has never once been the whole of it. Acts 3:6 states the shortfall plainly and gives in the same breath, and the Holy Spirit is the one present with a young man who has rice and an invitation he has not sent.

And notice what does not happen in that verse.

He does not go and get money first. He does not apologize for what is missing, he does not explain why it is missing, and he does not tell the man to come back when the situation has improved.

The giving happens at the level he is actually at, on that day, with what was actually in his hands.

You have permission to give at the level you are actually at, and waiting until the situation improves has never once been the same thing as generosity. The Spirit of God is the one with somebody who has been postponing an evening until things change, and Acts 3:6 moves straight from the empty half to the full one.

Rice is not the problem, four people is

Here is the practical half, and it is one correction, and it is about the arithmetic rather than the food.

The sentence in your head is: I cannot ask four people over and give them rice. And that is probably true. Four people is a quantity problem, and quantity problems are real, and no amount of encouragement makes rice stretch to four.

But the invitation that keeps not getting sent is the four person one, and nobody ever considered the other one.

One person. One person and rice is not a shortfall. One person and rice with an egg on it is a completely ordinary Tuesday evening between two friends, and there is not a single thing wrong with it, and it is available tonight.

You were solving the wrong invitation, and a quantity problem has never once been the same thing as an inability to feed anybody. Acts 3:6 gives what is actually in a hand rather than what would have been better, and the Holy Spirit is the one with a man who has been planning an evening for four.

And here is the second half, which is the one that will be difficult, and it is about the sentence underneath. People who have people over are not further along. That is the belief and it is doing all the work, and it is a belief about a stage of life rather than about food.

Here is what is true instead: the friends you want in that kitchen are mostly in exactly the same position as you, and about two of them have wanted to ask you and have not, for the same reason, and everybody is waiting for somebody to go first.

You have been waiting on the same side of a door as everybody else, and a room full of people all waiting to be invited has never once been a room with nobody willing. The Spirit of God is the one with somebody about to go first, and Acts 3:6 has a man give on the day rather than after an improvement.

What this month is, with one person

So here is the assignment. Invite one person for one simple meal this month and cook the thing you can already make.

One person. Text them today, not when the week improves, and keep the message short and do not explain the food in advance. Something like: come over Thursday, I am making rice, it will be very basic. That sentence does the entire job and it also removes the only thing that could go wrong, which is them expecting something else.

You are naming it in advance rather than apologizing afterward, and a meal described honestly before anybody arrives has never once been able to disappoint them. Acts 3:6 names the shortfall before it gives anything, and the Holy Spirit is the one with a young man writing a short message.

Then the part that does the work, and it is one instruction: when it is on the table, say nothing about it. No remark about how basic it is. No joke to get in first. You already told them on Thursday, and saying it again turns a plain meal into a thing that needs managing.

Put it down and sit down and let it be exactly what it is, which is two friends and food and an evening you have wanted for months.

You are letting it be what it is rather than introducing it, and a plain meal nobody commented on has never once been the smaller evening. The Spirit of God is the one at that table with two friends and a plate of rice, and Acts 3:6 gives such as I have without ranking it against anything.