“Why Daily Bread?”

Most people tend to work hard and then look for time to relax. Push hard and then have time to yourself…. TGIF, the weekend is here.  Build up a fortune and then retire, living off the savings. 

I never heard Jesus speak about saving up for a rainy day? Jesus counted on his father to handle the rainy days …  each day, even each moment. “Give us this day our daily bread”. 

God wants us to depend on him every day and every moment. I can tend to forget that. I can tend to build up some reserves so I can survive just in case the Lord is taking care of someone else when I need him, in case I can’t get in touch with God at a particular moment. I think I’m  more like your average squirrel who buries some 3,000 nuts in a season.  I can be a “store up” kind of guy, keeping a supply for future use. This may work in some areas like finance, but God has a different approach for our life with him. 

Give us this day our daily bread. It seems that God’s advice is to not pray real hard for the next 5 days and then take a break the following 5 days….  living off my supply of nuts like the squirrel.

God wants us close to him. He wants us to rely on him for everything, even our next breath…. and we do rely on him for everything, whether we know it or not. Like the manna in the desert, God feeds us day by day. The Israelites couldn’t store up manna and we can’t store up our daily bread. But Lord, I already had my prayer time today, now it’s time for me to do my own thing, to do what I want to do. No, we’re called to pray always. Sure the type of prayer may vary through the day, from receiving the Eucharist, other formal prayer, to praying for a sick friend, to offering up our work, to marveling at the sunset, to taking a Holy Spirit inspired nap, or having a cold beer after working in the sun and toasting the goodness of God. But in all of this we are asking and receiving the daily bread from our Father in heaven. 

God doesn’t want us to store up blessings; he wants to give fresh blessings to us every day and even every moment. This allows our gratitude to be fresh and heartfelt and filled with joy. 

Oh dear Father, give us this day our daily bread… we need you to provide everything, all our spiritual and material needs. All good things come from your hand. Your blessings are fresh each morning. And that is very good news.