Sometimes when I was little visiting my grandparent’s house, I’d wander downstairs to their basement, past the red-carpeted family room complete with a built in bar, and clack down a tiled hallway. If I turned right and pulled the curtain back just so, I’d see my grandmother’s pantry. A string hung from the ceiling, it took several years to grow tall enough to pull it.

With the light on, I smiled at the neat rows of canned goods, boxed cake mixes, bottles of Aunt Jemima, and packaged pasta. A little girl’s dream: a store within a house.

My grandmother grew up in the Great Depression. She understood scarcity and lack. Her store-room ensured she’d never have that deprivation again.

Funny thing: my pantry today is well stocked. I think a bit of my grandmother’s fear has caught me. Not that it’s a bad thing. Just interesting. I remember seeing the pantries and fridges of my friends in France, how bare they were. They shopped as a daily lifestyle, purchasing what they needed. They did not understand the sheer volume I’d buy on my shopping trips. (I was stocking up for the month.)

But I wonder if there’s something here I need to explore. Is my stocked pantry indicative of my fear that God won’t provide? Click to tweet!

Or is it good stewardship?

Or both?

Or neither?

Do I really, truly believe and trust that God will provide our every need? And as an American, it seems silly that I struggle to trust Him. After all, we have SO much. Abundance aplenty!

Really the only thing I can do is trust Jesus through it all. Click to tweet! Trust Him with our possessions and stuff. Trust Him with the way we spend our money. Trust Him when He whispers for us to give our money (His money, really) away.

And maybe my stocked pantry is an indication of God’s desire that we would give it away: baking bread for neighbors, inviting others over, blessing others with food.

What about you? Do you have a stocked pantry? Do you struggle with a Depression-era mentality? Or are your cupboards bare and you’re trusting God for your next meal?

Whatever your circumstance, rich or poor, our onus is to trust, trust, trust. Click to tweet!

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Did all this talk about food make your mouth water? Check out Mary’s cookbook, The Irresistible Table.