This morning’s quote from the Lord’s Prayer continues the week focusing on our daily bread:
“GIVE US”: this means that the ultimate source of all this for us is God himself, his love, his concern for us; in whatever form or from whomever we may receive the gift, all is from him. But this means that the first meaning and goal of these gifts is God himself.
Alexander Schmemann, Our Father
When I was a child, my grandmothers would give me and my siblings gifts at Christmas and for our birthday’s. After a certain age, they both gave us money because they didn’t know what to buy young children any longer. When I was young I looked forward to these gifts – honestly more than I did to the act of love and the relationship with my grandparents.
Now, in middle age, I miss my grandparents. I would give all the money back to see any of them one more time, for my kids to know them as I did. This quote reminds me of that growth – it is one thing to ask God for the good gifts that God offers and shares. It is another thing – a better thing – and what God really wants – to want the Giver more than the gift.
May we seek today the Giver whose great gift is Himself…
