When Mom Forgets Snacks

AnneMarie Miller reflects on times when her forgetfulness caused her children discomfort — and how the Gospel reminds her of God’s providence.

We’ll just have a late lunch; it’ll be fine. I’ll bring snacks. These are the thoughts that have rolled through my head when scheduling the occasional morning outing and errands. On paper, my ideas look fine. Having a late lunch is no problem, right?

Yet, when our typical mealtime comes and goes, some of my young children begin wailing for food. I realize that maybe I was a little optimistic about things. I’ll rummage around in the minivan and realize that I forgot to toss in a box of emergency crackers.

I chide myself for my forgetfulness. How could I forget to grab a box of crackers? How much longer do I have before a child falls into a meltdown due to a lack of food and a need to nap? I failed to plan well, and now I — and my children — are dealing with the consequences.

This scenario plays out from time to time for different items: snacks, clean diapers, wet wipes, and socks. When it happens, it’s easy for me to ruminate on my mishap, and to think about all the ways that I failed and what I should have done. Yet, when reading Scripture recently, I realized that I can respond to these mishaps differently.

The Disciples Forgot, Too.

In Mark’s Gospel, we read about the feeding of the four thousand. Then, after a short encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus and his disciples board a boat. Mark writes: “They had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat” (Mark 8:14). I continued to read the rest of the passage, but my mind remained stuck on this one verse.

The disciples forgot to bring bread. There was just one loaf of bread in the boat for everyone to eat.

As I consider the rate at which my kids and I eat homemade bread, I wonder how quickly Jesus and his disciples would eat the one loaf they had. I imagine that I would grow very cranky in this situation, and that I would blame myself and others for this oversight. It would be easy for me to focus so intently on the apparent failure — neglecting to bring bread for the journey — that I would forget to see that Jesus was right there, with me in the boat.

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Jesus had just fed about four thousand people with only seven loaves of bread and a few fish. If He provided for all those people, would He also provide the disciples with what they needed?

Jesus asks the disciples: “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” (Mark 8:20) Jesus pulls the gaze of the disciples upward, to Him. He reminds them of His miracles. Miracles where He gave people not only what they needed, but an abundance of what they needed.

Will He Do the Same for Me?

When I forget snacks or clean diapers or some other important item, I can think through ways to remember better next time. However, I shouldn’t get stuck in the mishap of the moment. I shouldn’t focus so much on my failures that I forget Jesus’s presence. God is right there, with me in the chaos, and I can turn my gaze to Him. He will provide what I need.

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We’re about to begin the season of Lent, and it’s easy to grow annoyed or frustrated when we forget to follow our penitential practices. It’s easy to focus so much on the challenges of the moment that we obsess over where we failed or what has gone wrong. We may even want to give up. Yet, in those moments, let’s remember that Jesus is right here, with us.

He will help us in our Lenten journey, the journey that brings us closer to Him. Just as he fed the four thousand with an abundance of food, he will provide for our needs in abundance, too.

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