CRUMBS FROM A FULL PLATE

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."  (Luke 16:19-21)

Definition of CRUMB:  a very small quantity of something

The other day while reading Luke 16... although reading all the way through the rest of the chapter to verse 31 - the Lord is trying to teach us many lessons... but in my pondering just the three verses above, here is what I gleaned: 

We are so busy these days... with work, hobbies, trying to impress the world and make a name for ourselves, climbing the corporate ladder, etc. - so many activities that our "plates are FULL."  Sad thing is, we get so busy with all that, there are only "CRUMBS" left for those we love.  Have you ever noticed how many times, the people that we really love the MOST are NOT those we love the BEST?  Often they get our crumbs instead of the best that we have to offer.  This happens with our relationship with the Lord also.  We are so busy that we even offer Him... CRUMBS.

We are always so worried about how others perceive us that we try so hard to please and do for those that probably and most likely know and care for us the least.  But for those that love us the most, accepting us in our faults and in our strengths, we tend to give the worst of us - most of the time.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox says it best in one of her writings:

There's one sad truth in life I've found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.  

As Lazarus sat at the rich man's door, waiting and desiring only the CRUMBS that fell from the table, I wonder if our spouses, children, family, friends, and most of all our Lord... are sitting, yearning, waiting, longing, for once to get the BEST we have to offer... or are they waiting for just a CRUMB we may happen to drop to them on our way to impress a world that will chew us up and spit us out at the first opportunity?

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."  ~Mother Teresa

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."  ~Carl W. Buechner