When you talk to people about food even the most hardened carb-o-phobe will talk wistfully of the smell of fresh bread.

Fresh bread is so inviting, for its simplicity it feels gourmet. It nourishes us, forms the basis of the diet of so many, it evokes memories of favourite spreads and special moments. It speaks to so many of our senses.

It’s night and I’m feeling flat and I’m realising, once again, that it’s been a while since I’ve experienced the spiritual taste of fresh-today bread. I’ve been going too long on yesterday, last week, a month ago….

I’ve missed the warning given to the Israelites about the manna from heaven.
Exodus 16 – excerpts – italics and underlining added

So much in that story speaks to me. Each one gathering what they need. God’s glory revealed morning by morning until it becomes a regular expectation.

Lack of trust in the constant provision – that one stings. I do that. I start to waver in my trust that He will provide every day. He will satisfy every.single.day.

Maybe you’re like me. You know what it’s like to have lived with the joy, the sustenance of daily bread but along the way you’ve stopped looking daily. You’ve stuck with scraps and tried to stock-up on ‘Sundays special sale prices’… thinking it’ll get you through the week.

Suddenly fresh bread today seems like a job you have to do and you think bread making is hard work, time consuming and it’s just too much to fit in to your day and you shove in a little stale bread from some other time, or you go with out.

We go without

I go without

As someone who has made a lot of bread by hand I remember that bread making takes time but not in the way I imagine from a distance. Up close there’s some ingredients in the bowl, then some kneading – maybe ten minutes – and then the bread does all the rest.

And I remember that spiritual bread is like that too.

Set aside time, gather ingredients, ten minutes of digging in and then over the day that investment rises, rests, rises and produces something that nourishes me in a way that stale, leftovers never can.

Fresh bread satisfies.

Fresh bread provides me with something to share.

Give us today our daily bread.

How can it be that I am so slow to learn? That I can have all the joy of daily bread and next week be trying to stuff my pockets on Sunday to get me through the week.

Daily bread – the body broken for me. Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life.’