feeding people – Penny Zeller

Years ago at a large Christian music festival in a local park, many who attended brought their own food to munch on while enjoying the wide variety of bands onstage throughout the day. When lunchtime arrived, my mom and I removed our ice chest filled with the prepared lunch for the six members in our family.

I’ve never quite met anyone like my mom. One of her favorite sayings is, “it’s all in the presentation”. Indeed. My mom prepared a table of delicacies that included scrumptious oversized homemade cookies, bowls of neatly cut watermelon and cantaloupe, and mouth-watering sandwiches. To the onlooker, it appeared to be something out of a magazine or found on a Pinterest board.

We were just about to pray and savor this tasty meal when the most unexpected thing happened.

Several individuals—strangers—arrived at our table, plates in hand, smiles on their faces. “This looks delicious,” we heard one of them say. “Thank you so much,” another said.

At first, my mom and I exchanged glances. Who were these people? Did they know this was a private meal?

But seconds later, we shrugged in tandem and encouraged them to help themselves to whatever they’d like. Our bounty was more than sufficient for our little family. You would have thought we offered them a million dollars.

Because it’s a park in the middle of a fair-sized city, there is a sizeable homeless population that migrates through the area on any given day. We didn’t know the situations of our “guests” or what was going on in their lives. But we did know one thing…that something so simple blessed them.

These days, my mom can no longer prepare lavish feasts or create beautiful crafts without assistance due to a life-altering accident and severe chronic pain. However, that day in the park all those years ago reminded me of the importance of serving unexpectedly.

Sometimes we have no idea how the things we do can bless someone. Sometimes, even when we don’t set out to serve someone or enrich their lives, our actions have the biggest impact.