Leftovers


This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24


My friend Barbara is a great cook. She whips things up so fast and they taste so good. She definitely has the gift of hospitality and I have enjoyed many weeks in her home over the past few years. During those times I have come to know one of her weekly rituals; it usually happens on a Friday night and it’s called “kitchen cleanup”! No, she doesn’t get us all scrubbing and polishing, but rather we get to eat all the leftovers from the last few nights’ dinners. Great fun, and a good way for the cook to have a night off.

Leftovers in this context are fine, but sadly it can happen that we often only give the leftovers of our lives to our families and to God. In Hong Kong where I live, it is not unusual to see business people, men and women, coming home to their families quite late at night; such is the expectation of commerce in Hong Kong. I have spoken to mothers of young children who rarely see their children during the week apart from to kiss them goodnight as they sleep, because they are often leaving home before the children are awake and return home after they are in bed.

Often in our busy lives we only give the leftovers of our lives to God, if we can fit Him in at all. The truth is that any relationship, husband to wife, parent to child, friend to friend and people to God, requires quality time spent together.

In the Old Testament God set a standard for the way people should relate to Him. They were to honour Him with the first of their flocks as an offering and they were to set aside the first fruits of their crops for His purposes. When Jesus, our example, walked the earth he took time early in the day to spend time with his Heavenly Father before He went out to minister to the crowds. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 63:1 “Early will I seek you.” They gave the first part of their day to God. This is not the only acceptable time to seek the Lord, He is pleased whenever we come to Him. However to give Him back the first part of our day seems to me to be a good way of saying “thank you for the gift of this day”. I have discovered that unless I set aside those ‘first fruits’ of my day for God, that He invariably only gets the leftovers which is never quite the same.

By the way, my friend Barbara has also been a great example to me in this. She leads a busy life of counselling and ministry and early every morning she is up with her coffee, her Bible and her journal. She doesn’t give God her leftovers, but rather, the best part of her day!

Prayer: Lord God, every day of my life is a gift from Your hand. Help me to seek your guidance as to how best to use it to please and glorify You. Amen