Our Daily Bread

There are a lot of things in this world we could want. There are so many things to think about, to save up for, and to plan for just in case. We open savings accounts, we buy insurance policies. I think it is easy to get caught up in “I wish” or “I want.” I think it is easy to get caught up in too much social media and to find ourselves buried beneath perceived inadequacies. I think it is easy to feel like there is this made-up finish line that we can never quite reach.

There are also times of want where we are ready to be relieved of great hardship, great suffering, or great confusion. There are times we feel we are so low that all we want is to regain who or what we once were. Times we feel alone, lost, forsaken, hopeless and what we want is to be comforted. 

You know, it’s ironic, that we often find ourselves in the pursuit of happiness, when happiness was never something we were promised, or even something we were told we should expect.

I am reminded of this by the way we are taught to pray. We have literally been instructed to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

I think about that a lot. “Our daily bread.” 

We don’t ask for bread for today and tomorrow, we don’t ask for bread for just in case, and we don’t ask for more bread than what we need.  Just “give us this day,” just today, on this day, “our daily bread,” only what we need to get through this one day only.

I can’t help but think about times I have forgotten this and was reminded of this right in the midst of my own struggles.

I remember the time we had some unforeseen medical expenses. The bills kept arriving in the mail, and I really had no idea how we would pay them. I was upset and I was worried. I prayed, as I knew I should, but I don’t know that my actual hope matched what happened next. A few days after receiving the medical bills, we then received a reimbursement from our auto insurance company. Apparently our policy had been coded incorrectly the previous year, they had found their error, and they refunded us the difference…which happened to be the amount of our medical bills.

There was also the time we needed to sell one home as we were moving to another city to start new jobs. We had tried for months to sell our house and were unsure how we could possibly pay the mortgage on our house plus the rent on a new place. The school year was about to start and we were getting nervous. All in the same week, we found a more affordable house to rent which was closer to our jobs. Right after signing the lease, we received a call that we had buyers for our house. The beauty in it all was that we were well within our budget that year, we paid off some debt, which put is in a better situation when we were unexpectedly expecting our third child later that same year.

One of my favorite “daily bread” a-ha moments was a few years ago when I made it known to my family that I really wanted to make the cross-country trip to visit some of my extended family, especially my grandmother. My husband saved all year without me knowing so he could make that happen. He also had a special Christmas gift in mind for me, but he didn’t know how he could ever save enough to do both the trip and the gift. One day, when asking friends and co-workers where else he could shop for this gift, someone mentioned they had what he was looking for, they were ready to part with it, and he could have it! That Christmas he gave me the special gift, and he announced we were leaving the next day to go visit my grandmother!

Time and time again I am reminded that we somehow always have what we need. I have experienced my fair share of times of hardships and times of great prosperity. There are times I have been surrounded by support and times I have felt I was alone in the universe. There are times I have felt prepared for whatever might come next and times I had no idea what the next moment would bring. But in all these things, I had exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it.

The truth is, we really are given “our daily bread” on a daily basis. It is unknown to us how and when that will be delivered, but it is nevertheless right there in front of us. The truth is, today we are enough, and today we have enough. Whether we can see it or not, today we have all that we need.