Fishes and Loaves
As small business owners with two kids and tight personal finances, we've never once thought of giving less as a way to make our lives easier.
Giving is our love language and it flows inside our home and into our community at whatever rate we are capable of. We look for ways to lighten other's loads, brighten people's day, and just generally give others around us a boost. We want our kids to emulate our belief that if we continue to contribute and breathe positivity into our community that we can be a force of good and change to create an amazing future for everyone.
This is not always the easiest habit to continue when times are rougher and you want to react to negativity, but some light inside keeps us going.
I have been ruminating on the story of the Fishes and Loaves over the past couple months as I've been working nearly every day in our new community focused business. The space brings me boundless joy to see others enjoy their families in a unique way without the stress of the outside world weighing on them. That doesn't mean that it has been an easy road to get the doors open or people through those doors to see and experience the vision we wanted to share with our neighbors.
Working daily, some weeks without pay when months were tighter has worn on my disposition and I wondered if there would be an end to our basket. The idea that we would work so hard and give so much to end up with nothing was a reality that every business owner may have to face. But, with our focus on giving and building the community it felt like a shin kick that we would have the faith to begin handing out the proverbial fishes and loaves and find an empty basket.
Faith is really the basis of every business - especially community centered ones. The faith that if you solve a true problem and create a quality product that people will come to support the work you've done and the positive contribution you are attempting to make. You have to have faith that the effort you put in is going to shine bright enough to make it work.
I'm a daily chatter with God about the path I'm on, and I wouldn't call it prayer but I definitely put in my requests for people to have an easier load, a safe journey, and once in a while just a sign that I am headed in the right direction with a positive showing. These conversations are usually just a short thanks when I pause at a green and someone runs a red or a quick note when a mom is close to delivery and looks like everyday feels like a year, but recently I have been talking over our business path daily just going over what we're doing and how we're balancing the take and give of business to stay afloat and keep investing in our community so that we feel fulfilled. Some days they are just deep breath filled as I decompress in the carline or fast thoughts of thanks when we make a new connection or made something possible for a family that wasn't previously available.
I found myself thinking on the fishes and loaves regularly during these chats and thought how much faith you would need just to continue to hand out fish and loaf after fish and loaf and not look down to worry about the ever lessening amount. I don't have that faith, as I review our accounts weekly with worry or surprise when figuring out our next move, but each time I move forward in faith and positivity because as I figure it, moving forward in worry wouldn't do anything good for our business. Like most, I consider once in a while if I am crazy for "talking to myself" so often, especially when I am sending out thoughts for the same outcome so often with little acknowledgement. But, this past week I got a loud answer!
It rained! It rained a lot! And our community had heard us all this time and came in to find a space to play, to relax, to connect. It doesn't solve everything but it was an answer that we are doing something needed and our voice is being heard. This can fuel us as we continue to build our programs, times, and offerings to get the best results and fit what our community needs and is able to come out for.
Our fishes and loaves have been restocked and we will continue on this path,
and continue giving until we get a new message of need in our community.