Mar 18 - "Our Daily Bread"

John 6:35-40 -- “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’ ”

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I am continually amazed at the ways reading the Bible brings new insight to me on a regular basis. As my life progresses and I hopefully get a little smarter each year, become more open to messages God has been sending and take time to recognize His daily miracles, it is awesome how I am blessed to see the Word in new ways.

Over the course of my life so far, I have probably prayed the Lord’s Prayer many hundreds, if not thousands of times. The prayer Jesus taught us to pray has been threaded through my existence for longer than I can recall. At some point in the very recent past...maybe even just a couple of months ago...I remember connecting a part of the Lord’s prayer to this scripture. The part of the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” had new meaning for me.

Until that moment, that gift of clarity, I had always taken the prayer very literally. I thought I was praying to make sure I did not go physically hungry, that God would provide food, nourishment for me. I can even remember a pewter serving plate at my Grandma Bonnie’s house, with a picture of men harvesting wheat engraved on it. Below the picture are the words “Our Daily Bread”. As a child, seeing this, how could I not interpret this part of the prayer as God providing Crunch Berries, Spaghettios and sugar cream pie to me every day? Sometimes the symbols which get associated with the Word can confuse the message.

But fortunately and blessedly, God provides us the opportunity for a continuing renewal of our minds and our souls as we spend time in the Word. When we read, reflect, share and discuss scripture in the spirit of love, new things come to us. Words we have seen many times and heard on numerous occasions become something new. People whom we think we know well, those whom we have just met, others we may have discounted for some reason, bring us the gift of our Daily Bread in so many ways. Jesus can come to us from any direction. If we ask for His presence, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, He will come to us. We just need to look around for and be open to the surprising places we can find Him.

For many of you, my reflection today may be a huge statement of the obvious. You may be saying to yourself, “Duh...how could he have missed that one for so long?!?” For others, maybe it is shared moment of realization. In either instance, I am happy to have been given this new awareness and share in it with you.

So, today and every day, have a little Jesus. When you pray, ask God to keep Jesus and His love, miracles and sacrifice on your mind. As you go through your day, bring Jesus to others in your words and actions. In every face you see, person you meet and friend you embrace, look for Jesus. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but in receiving Jesus, our daily bread today, we can be fed and never be hungry again.