Thinking Of Leftovers

When my five children were young, I was always cooking for seven people.
I was used to cooking large meals.
I found it challenging to reduce a recipe.
As they went off to college, I still found myself cooking for a crowd.

There were not many leftovers when my children were young.
Since two of the five were boys, I knew that food would soon disappear.
Back in those days, we went through thirteen gallons of milk each week!
Anyone who knows our family can attest to the truth of that fact.

It wasn’t until I was cooking for just my husband and I, that I found we had leftovers.
I love to make homemade soup.
My husband would truly eat soup every day.
He teases me that he cannot choose a favorite; I remind him that he doesn’t have to choose.

A big pot of soup will be dinner for two nights.
To vary it a bit, I will have a different side dish.
It is nice to have leftover soup on a busy day and not have to cook.
That was never my reality when my children were young.

Thanksgiving and Christmas leftovers are still a favorite.
There is something about a turkey sandwich that makes you yearn for those leftovers.
Some dishes taste even better the next day, like homemade soup and lasagna.
With a different presentation, the meal can look totally different the next day.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. (Exodus 34:26)

I thought about leftovers the other day.
I was thinking about leftovers, but not leftover food.
I was thinking about the leftovers of our life.
I was thinking about what it means to offer the best.

Best is not about perfection.
Best is much like the cream that rises to the top.
Best is like freshly fallen snow without a foot print on it yet.
Best is the first part, not the scraps at the end.

How often do we offer leftover time to a task?
How often do we engage in leftover conversation after we are simply too tired to talk?
How often do we give our leftover money after we have spent it on other things?
How often do we give a leftover of ourselves rather than the best we have to offer?

I happened to find a poem about leftovers that really spoke to my heart.
It’s author is unknown.

Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserves the very best.
We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.
We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To him the remnant of our life.

God, the Father, the Creator of everything deserves our best.
Why does He get what is left over?
Why does He get a tired prayer, when we saved our best words for others?
Why does He get leftover time, when we are too exhausted to give Him the best?

Do we even think about what we are offering Him?
Why does everyone else seem to get the best of us while God gets the leftovers?
The reverse should be true.
God should get the firstfruits of our lives.

Leftover food can be enjoyable.
Leftover worship is appalling to the One who made us.
It should be appalling to us as well.
God should get our best, our first.

God did not skimp on His gifts to us.
God gave His best to us when He gave us His Son, Jesus.
God does not give leftovers.
Every good and perfect gift is from above. (James 1:17)