One More Today

I thought I would add a little today, as I am driving out of town until late tomorrow and won't have an opportunity to do it then.  I have been reading and focusing on the story in the New Testament on the 5 loaves and 2 fishes.  The Savior walked among the people and taught them all that long day.  To be in His presence as part of the multitude. 
I would have liked to see His face and participate in His miracles.  I wonder what that would have been like?  To hear His voice, and listen to His words, to watch Him as he taught.  After he walked among them for the day, He turned to His disciples and asked where they could buy bread to feed the multitude.  The disciples must have been surprised.  I know I would have been.  They did not travel with much, nor did they have much money.  So they turned to a young boy who carried their stores and found that he had for them five loaves and two fishes. 
Imagine, five small loaves of barley bread and two small fishes to feed 5000 people.
Now, I don't know how the people in your house eat :-), but the ones in my house would eat it all and there would be none to spare.  Yet, somehow, when they finished, there were in the hands of the twelve apostles, twelve baskets full. 
None of us know the answer of how the miracle happened.  None of us can explain it, but we know it happened and that the people that day had an abundance of food.  Enough and to spare for their needs.  The dictionary defines abundance as "An overflowing fullness; ample sufficiency; great plenty; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; wealth: -- strictly applicable to quantity only, but sometimes used of number."
I like the phrase, an overflowing fullness.  I may not have been there, to be part of those very blessed 5000 people, but I am here now and I have His teachings and influence in my life today.  I can still partake of His abundance if I strive to make His teachings a part of my life.  This morning we were reading in 2 Nephi and we were talking about knowing for your self through study and prayer. 
One of the examples used in the scriptures is to feast upon the scriptures.  We compared it to Thanksgiving dinner and feasting at the table.  We asked the girls what feasting meant.  One of the things that makes it possible is when we have great plenty.  In short, an abundance of food. We used Thanksgiving as our example of an abundant feast.  If you compare it to the scriptures and feasting on the Word of God, it puts the word abundance in an entirely new life. 
I wonder, do we have an Abundance of the scriptures and the word of God in our home?  Or are we simply starving ourselves by turning away from the abundance of the Lord's table.  Are we partaking of the abundace of God, or are we simply nibbling at the edges? 
I read a quote this morning from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, "The acquisition of understanding and enthusiasm for the Lord comes from following simple rules.  One of those rules is to read the word of the Lord.  I know that with the demands of your studies there is little time to read anything else.  But I promise you that if you will read the words of that writing which we call scripture, ther will come into your heart an understanding and a warmth that will be pleasing to experience.  Let the Lord speak for Himself to you, and His words will come with a quiet conviction that will make the words of His critics meaningless."
That sounds like abundance to me.