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TheDiscipleMD

It’s aroma filled the house! There is no way to describe the smell of bread hot out of the oven, unless of course, you have experienced it! It is an aroma that still lingers in my nostrils although it has been years since I have walked into a home that housed it. The sweet smell of freshly baked bread is a wonderful memory of my childhood home. To this day, friends of the family still remember my Mom’s homemade bread. At school lunchtime, the other kids wanted to trade their store-bought “Wonderbread” for it. My Mom’s homemade bread was tasty no matter how you prepared or sliced it. Thick or thin, warm or cold, with jam or honey, or just plain butter, it was so good! We didn’t have much by way of “snacks” back then, at least not in my house. But eating homemade bread was a steady after school treat. So many times when I came home from school, rows of loaves would be set out to cool. My Mom would be in the kitchen, apron on, putting the finishing touches on her “masterpieces”.

I can certainly understand, why another “master” used bread so often to teach about the meaning of life. During the days of the Savior, all knew that bread was the “staple” of life. The symbolic nature of “bread” are plentiful throughout the scriptural record. From Joseph of Egypt nourishing his father and family with it during the famine, (Gen. 47), to bread (manna) from heaven to save the Israelites in the desert as recorded in the 16th chapter of Exodus. From the ravens who brought bread to the hungering prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17) to being center stage in the miracle of feeding the thousands as recorded in the gospels. Christ even referred to himself as the “bread of life.”  He even instituted the sacrament with bread to symbolically represent his body. He knew that bread was a common form of nourishment that would continue on till the end of time.

Having watched bread “rise” in my Mom’s oven gave me greater insight into “unleavened” bread, which is so much a part of the feasts and religious holidays of the ancient Jews. The Lord chose wisely in using “bread” so often in his parables. It was an important food to our parents, Adam and Eve, and will be till the earth receives its paradoxical glory.  It is a substance that is before us everyday. Bread doesn’t have to be a reminder of the Savior only when presented on a silver tray each Sunday. If we allow it to do so, it can be a daily reminder of our love, His love, and of our covenants with Him.

The Savior said he was the “bread” of eternal life. When asked how to gain eternal life, He replied, “…What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” (Luke 10: 26-28).

Well the recipe has been given by the ultimate “bread” giver of how to gain eternal life!  Like making homemade bread, partaking of the “bread of life” and of gaining its reward, will take more effort than a simple trip to the church and “checking in” with a local pastor.  No, it will take a sacrifice of time and energy. It will require precision in the ingredients you use and also being able to take the heat! But, in the end the sweetness of its taste will linger in your soul, and you will never want to go back to a “cheap” imitation the so often is found in the philosophies of man. The Lord lives! He is our Savior, He is the “bread” of life! May we allow its sweet aroma to fill our souls each and everyday!