So I’ve discovered the art of baking bread.

I may have to blame it on my genes.  I can still taste “Grandma’s bread” in my head even though it’s been decades since I’ve had it.   And while I don’t spend all day making multiple loaves at a time like she did, there is something special about the whole process of waiting for yeast and flour and warm water and salt to become…something amazing.

And here’s a little trivia for you.  Bread is mentioned 315 times in the Bible.  Seems God knew how amazing it was, too.

It fed His people and sustained them.  It played the main part in miracles, like when the manna rained down from heaven, when the widow scraped up the last bits of flour from her bin and it fed her little family for days and days, and when Jesus borrowed a few loaves from a young boy and used them to feed thousands of people.  And the bread He broke up during His last supper has become a symbol of His sacrifice for us, reenacted in churches all over the world just last weekend.

There’s something special about bread.

I’ve been through my share of low-carb, “bread is evil” moments.  But rediscovering the joy of making it has reminded  me that bread has played a significant part in God’s plan for His people.

I hope your next morning toast or lunchtime sandwich or dinner roll reminds you that God always provides and feeds and sustains and blesses.

May you find new joy and hope in the Bread of Life.

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”.  John 6:35

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”  John 6:51

The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah. 1 Kings 7:16

And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave it to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Matthew 15:36-37