Manna for the day
There's this wonderful story in my faith tradition in which a faithful group of people was led into the desert for their own projection. For years they had been living as slaves and this season of living in the desert was a time of new found freedom for them. In the midst of this wonderful new life, God provided them with just enough manna to eat per day. They were not to take anymore or any less than they or their family needed. At first, this manna was a gift that the community appreciated, they were thankful and excited to have all that they needed. Days and weeks passed and what had been a life-giving gift of nourishment turned into the very thing that the community complained about most. The community lost their sense of thankfulness, lost sight of the offering of daily bread that was freely given to them and chose negativity over appreciation.
It is easy to lose sight of the offering of daily bread.
It is easy to focus on the negative when our careers are not where we want them to be, where we expected to them at this point in our lives.
It is easy to complain that our finances our low when in fact we just stopped for coffee this morning at our local coffee shop.
It is easy to be negative about our health insurance when it feels as though we are shelling out money and getting nothing in return.
It is easy to whine about the way our churches once were and want to turn around and do things the way we have always done them.
It is easy for our thankfulness to turn to negativity when life seems more than we can bear.
Several months ago a long time friend and I were talking about the weariness that we were feeling; the hardships that we were enduring at the time and she said four powerful words that changed our conversation. She simply said but my "manna for the day" is, moving the conversation to a very small goodness that she did not want to lose sight of. It was a tiny thing that had occurred and in the midst of walking with her mother that is living with progressive cancer she wanted to take the small bit of nourishment that would feed her; give her just enough to make it through another day.
Those four words have become part of our daily living.
Life isn't always easy.
I have experienced disappointment.
I have felt overwhelmed.
I often take this life for granted.
I have known heartache and worry.
When the walls seem to be closing in. When the every-day seems to be filled with the mundane. When my heart is aching and when the uncertainty of life seems to be prevalent, I find myself reaching back to those four important words "manna for the day". I am working on finding the manna for the day in my daily life because I live in a faith that tells me that there is an offering of daily bread every single day whether or not I take the time to let it nourish me or not. The stories of my faith; the stories that describe who God is and who I believe God to be, tell me that there is an offering of a life-giving gift every single day that will sustain me and give me enough for what is before me on that day. I do not have to worry about what tomorrow might look like or what it might hold but I just have to be willing to open myself up and I will find a gift.
My "manna for the day" today is grabbing a cup of coffee at one of the local shops, purchasing a gluten-free doughnut and sitting outside while the wind is blowing. My "manna for the day" is that I serve in a church that allows for families to be the first priority.
It's often the small things that are the "manna for the day". As you walk through this day, where is your manna? How will you stop to notice the offering that is before you as one of nourishment and goodness?
It is easy to lose sight of the offering of daily bread.
It is easy to focus on the negative when our careers are not where we want them to be, where we expected to them at this point in our lives.
It is easy to complain that our finances our low when in fact we just stopped for coffee this morning at our local coffee shop.
It is easy to be negative about our health insurance when it feels as though we are shelling out money and getting nothing in return.
It is easy to whine about the way our churches once were and want to turn around and do things the way we have always done them.
It is easy for our thankfulness to turn to negativity when life seems more than we can bear.
Several months ago a long time friend and I were talking about the weariness that we were feeling; the hardships that we were enduring at the time and she said four powerful words that changed our conversation. She simply said but my "manna for the day" is, moving the conversation to a very small goodness that she did not want to lose sight of. It was a tiny thing that had occurred and in the midst of walking with her mother that is living with progressive cancer she wanted to take the small bit of nourishment that would feed her; give her just enough to make it through another day.
Those four words have become part of our daily living.
Life isn't always easy.
I have experienced disappointment.
I have felt overwhelmed.
I often take this life for granted.
I have known heartache and worry.
When the walls seem to be closing in. When the every-day seems to be filled with the mundane. When my heart is aching and when the uncertainty of life seems to be prevalent, I find myself reaching back to those four important words "manna for the day". I am working on finding the manna for the day in my daily life because I live in a faith that tells me that there is an offering of daily bread every single day whether or not I take the time to let it nourish me or not. The stories of my faith; the stories that describe who God is and who I believe God to be, tell me that there is an offering of a life-giving gift every single day that will sustain me and give me enough for what is before me on that day. I do not have to worry about what tomorrow might look like or what it might hold but I just have to be willing to open myself up and I will find a gift.
My "manna for the day" today is grabbing a cup of coffee at one of the local shops, purchasing a gluten-free doughnut and sitting outside while the wind is blowing. My "manna for the day" is that I serve in a church that allows for families to be the first priority.
It's often the small things that are the "manna for the day". As you walk through this day, where is your manna? How will you stop to notice the offering that is before you as one of nourishment and goodness?
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