FRESH BREAD SHARED

My grandmother baked bread. My mother baked bread. I can smell our kitchen on baking day in my imagination--one of the favorite nostalgic fragrances of my growing years.

I don't bake bread. I buy it from the bakery--real bread, hot from the oven, in a loaf, not sliced, the whole grain kind, chuck full of fifteen grains with seeds all over the crunchy crust. The kind of bread that when you take a bite, you can actually chew it and savor every mouthful. I time my purchase to the day and hour when the baker promised that a new batch is due from the oven each day. I want to smell the primal fragrance of daily fresh bread.

I love to eat bread. Oh, I know that bread is loaded with carbs, but they are offset by the natural fiber and mega-nourishment. I'm willing to eat leftover bread if I must, since it retains its food value, but I miss its fresh-baked scent. I really don't like to eat or serve yesterday's bread although you can freshen it with a little moisture for a few seconds in the microwave.

I take joy in sharing fresh bread. I'd rather invite a friend over for coffee and fresh bread with real butter. You don't even need jam. Perhaps with some cheese and fruit. It's a feast for the taste buds rather than indulging in some sugary confection loaded with calories which assaults the appetite.

Throughout the world and over the centuries bread in its various forms has been the essential, primary staple. When Jesus declared, "man shall not live by bread alone" and "I AM the Bread of life," He was giving us His eternal perspective. "Give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer shows us the Father's concern for our basic daily provision as well as pointing forward spiritually toward the sacrifice of His own body for our salvation on the Cross and memorialized in the Eucharist--His real Body and Blood.

I want to offer fresh bread to those who look to me for encouragement, spiritual help, and guidance. I don't want to offer stale bread. As I feed afresh on the Bread of the Word of God for the needs of my own soul, the Lord multiplies the loaves and provides more than enough for me to share afresh with others.

FRESH BREAD

A fresh touch from You

how I long for it, Lord!

My spirit grows stale

from fast food on the run

trying to sustain myself

on yesterday's bread or

spiritual glazed donuts

and empty junk food.

Each day I need to taste

fresh Bread of Life

*prepared by Your hands

in the early morning

upon a fire of charcoal

as You provided breakfast

fish and bread generously spread

for those who followed You

beside the Sea of Tiberius.

Give me this day my daily bread

Homemade Bread of Your Word prepared

by nail-pierced resurrected hands

kindling burning first-love in me.

Since I have tasted of You

I cannot live on instant food

I cannot walk or work sustained

by man's baked goods alone

even freshened in a microwave oven.

I must have Your wholesome Bread

delivered fresh each day

from Your heart to mine.

Only that will satisfy and nourish

others who look expectantly

for me to share generously

the fresh Bread You've first given me.    

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* "And so when they got out upon the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid,

 a fish placed on it, and bread...and Jesus said to them, 
'Come and have breakfast.'"

  (John 21:9, 12)