“Give us this day our daily bread
Provision
Providence
Live for today
Don’t worry about tomorrow
Fulfillment in Your presence
Not from a paycheck”
I remember when my husband and I were dating, and we could seriously make $20 last for an entire weekend if we knew that was all we had. We were content with just being together no matter if we took peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to Disneyland or we walked down the free piers of Newport Beach. We did not seem to be consumed with worry or discontentment to need more than each other. Now, money seems to be something that falls through our fingers, because we have become accustomed with needing and consuming more.
Just recently, my husband and I have been re-evaluating our values in our marriage, and we are excited that this year, we are committed to down-sizing and revaluing what is really important to us. We are relearning to be content with what is already freely given. I have been finding myself being recaptured with the beauty of sunsets. I have been finding that the simplicity of conversations with my loved ones is far more satisfying than needing to go on a shopping spree. I am finding that my heart is finding contentment by the little things in life again. I no longer need to be "wowed" by materialistic gain or wealth.
I encourage you today to meditate on "Give us this day our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer. Rely and rest in God's provision and providence. When your heart becomes soothed by this reality that God will give you all that you "need" today, your job is to simply live for today and don't worry about tomorrow. I am not saying do not prepare for our future, but we don't need to live in tomorrow or a year from now. There is so much we miss out when we stress and worry about our weekly or yearly bread - wondering if God is going to provide then. God calls us to trust him in the everyday from moment to moment.
Finally, I encourage you to rest in this:
“There’s fulfillment in Your presence not from a paycheck. ”
Get in the presence of God by simply recognizing that the Divine is surely in this place right where you work, right where you are. The diploma, your job description, or the amount of your salary is not what brings fulfillment. I truly believe that true fulfillment comes from living in connection to God, the Divine Love of this world.
TAKE AWAY:
1) God is here in the now, so trust in the daily bread that He will provide today.
2) True fulfillment comes in His presence not from a paycheck.
MEDITATION:
“What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
“ 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.””
DAILY CHALLENGE:
1) How could you live out and rest in "Give us this day our daily bread"?
2) How could you live more for today and stress less about tomorrow?