Our Daily Bread

Do you ever have a day that is just really awesome?  I hope you do!  Yesterday was one of those such days.  Rick, my husband, was off, the weather was perfect with just a slight hint of Fall, and we happened upon a Farmer’s Market.  We had gone to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Biltmore Park Town Square, one of those up and coming apartment homes/shops and restaurant centers.  I had forgotten that the shopping center had a Farmer’s Market.  It has limited hours and is only open on Wednesdays so I had not been able to catch it at the right time.  The City Market South was small and had a decent crowd so we could visit with some of the vendors about their goods.

There is just something about being around fresh produce, just picked the day before, and fresh bread that just makes me feel alive, maybe I’m just weird that way.  Among the produce offered by the farmers was tomatoes, kale, peppers, zucchini, gorgeous radishes and deep orange carrots.  The rainbow of color was so appealing – colors from the earth – that it made my day seem even more perfect.

There was one vendor, Fletcher Village Bakery, that had home baked cookies and an amazing assortment of bread.  The loafs of fresh bread were gorgeous, again very earthy, various varieties, textures and sizes. These fresh veggies and scrumptious crusty bread made me think about how amazing God’s creation really is.  My thought process went on to think of “our daily bread” – a provision that we often take for granted.  So many times, our prayers are filled with worries about the future, and even more worries of things that may not even happen, plus requests for things that we may not really need.  I’m not saying not to pray about these things.  My point is what if we had the mind set of “our daily bread”, living in the moment and enjoying what we have been given for that day, that moment?  We take this for granted and are seldom reminded that there are other people, other believers, who do not have the option to run to the grocery store or a Farmer’s Market when their supply of bread runs low.  God provides for each of us in separate ways and it’s a mystery why some have more and others have less.

The different loaves of bread, nice and crusty and imperfectly shaped, also made me think about how it is made.  Maybe you’re a bread maker, I am not, but this display of the most basic of foods made me reflect on the time and effort that goes into making each loaf.  The loving hands that combine the ingredients, knead the dough, patiently wait for it to rise, shape the dough into loaves, and finally cook the bread for just the right amount of time.  I can almost smell the comforting aroma of the bread as it bakes.

If you think about it this is how God prepares us to receive, and to give, the daily bread.  He lovingly gathers the events, circumstances, gifts, and relationships and combines them in just the right way, kneading us with our experiences, preparing us and shaping us into who He wants us to be and who He wants us to “feed”.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” Matthew 6:11

Yes, yesterday was one of the good days but of course not every day is like that.  We experience good days, bad days, worse days, and even devastating days.  I believe that God knits all these things together to form us into who He has created us to be, preparing us for service for His kingdom.  However, we must have an open and willing heart and listening ears to hear Him guide us to action.

Why do some have plenty and others have none?  Why are there people who are starving and a mother whose only wish is that she could feed her children?  I don’t know.  What if we were meant to play a part in their lives, in their provisions of “daily bread”?  What if God has picked us to supply the needs of others and we have missed that call?  I’m not trying to preach (nor am I qualified) but maybe we need to think about what we are called to do instead of trying to find fault with God.  His call to action for you may be to pray, then pray.  It may be to give, then give. It may mean to go, then go.

“Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” Matthew 9:37

  I know there are many in our country, as well as our global neighbors, who desperately need “daily bread” in one form or another.  Whether it’s in Houston, Florida, Haiti, or all the others affected by storms, let us all listen to what God has created us to be and to do.

Many times, I have the excuse that I don’t hear or I don’t know what God is guiding me to do but usually that is during the times when I am not seeking God with my whole heart in everything I do.  Many times, it’s also when I am not spending time in God’s word every day and then responding to Him in prayer.

I’m not trying to step on any toes here.  I just type and God seems to give me the words.  Maybe the only person who needed to hear these things was myself but maybe I am not alone.