Katie has baked homemade bread for communion, a fragrant, golden loaf. We pass it around the table and each breaks off a piece before handing the loaf to her neighbor. But when it has been around, there is so much left! I am hungry and find myself wishing I had dared to take a larger piece. Why didn’t I? Was I afraid there wouldn’t be enough for everyone? Was I wanting only an amount I could easily chew? Did I think it would be bad manners to take more than a token piece?

As I gaze at that lovely bread lying unclaimed by those for whom it was intended, I meditate on how often I take small tokens too of the One Whom the bread represents. I remember tentative, small prayers … when I hungered for big ones. I remember taking minor risks in His name … when I hungered to dare great ones. I remember expecting little miracles … while I hungered for life changing ones. And I wonder how my own choice of small pieces of the Bread of Life has limited His ability to feed me.

Abandoning traditional manners, I reach again for the loaf. I am still hungry, and there is so much bread left. Come, won’t you join me? There’s an abundance of the Bread of Life - enough to satisfy all our hungers.

Dear Jesus, today I dare bring my hungers to You, - for You are the Bread of Life.
-Patricia Houck Sprinkle