Known as the “staff of life” the origin of bread can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and even before recorded history. It has fed every civilization for thousands of years. Bread has a long history for a reason. It is a healthy and nutritious food that fills the stomach as well as the soul. Even the Lord's Prayer teaches us to request of God Give us this day our daily bread- meaning not merely loaves, but moral and spiritual sustenance.
The request for daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer had never manifest more clearly as when my mother was in a coma for seven weeks after having a severe brain hemorrhage. During that critical time when life and death were the moment-to-moment concerns, I learned to ask not for another week, or another month, or the rest of what I thought should be her life, but simply for whatever was needed to handle whatever the day brought. It is a lesson I will never forget. It was on July 24, 2006, eight days into her coma while sitting at my mom’s hospital bedside that I wrote this in my journal:
Where tomorrow is not promised, I have learned to ask only for daily bread.
There was no guarantee she would survive; there was no promise of her awakening; and there was certainly no prognosis as to how functional she would be if she did both survive and awaken. All we had was the very moment we were in and somehow that had to be enough because any other possibility was too unknown and far too overwhelming. It was not only my personal greatest test of faith, but also the best lesson in learning how to ask for and live on daily bread which is so essential to life. So, I would like to humbly share little slice of bread with my readers.
