Our Father, Who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread...

Matthew 6:9-11, NASB

I have no idea how many times I have prayed this prayer. At least in the thousands, to be sure, but I wonder how many times I have really thought about what I have prayed. Or for that matter, why Jesus wanted us to pray it.

I have thought a lot more about this prayer in recent years than I had in my younger days. Men have rightly considered this prayer to be of supreme magnitude. So much so that it has been referred to as "The Lord's Prayer". Still, knowing how important it is does not always allow us to appreciate it to the fullest. I suppose that is the way so many things are in our lives. For instance, those of us who have been blessed with good families know how treasured we should hold our parents and children and husbands and wives, yet we still take them for granted.

Getting back to this command to pray for our daily bread - do we really do it? And if we do, is it a meaningful and thoughtful prayer? Is it a humble entreaty to our Creator, or have we come to expect that He will just take care of our daily needs because He always has? Please don't mistake why I ask these questions. I am not implying that we should not trust Him to do so, I am just wondering if I sometimes do not take the privilege of this gift for granted. Do I truly appreciate the fact that God has never failed to give me what I need to serve Him properly.

The fact is that I often complain about the quality of my daily bread. I am often dissatisfied that this bread is becoming more expensive. Though I have always had that daily bread (and I have had it for over 60 years now), not going a day where I have failed to have it in sufficient portions, I often wonder if it will continue. Worse still, I sometimes complain about the quality or variety of my daily bread, and I often desire a larger stockpile of this treasured item just in case something bad should happen.

I guess human nature is like that, but it shouldn't be that way. I believe that Jesus told us to pray for our daily bread because we need to have a daily perspective on the physical necessities of life. How much daily bread do we need? The answer is shockingly simple: enough for the day! Who do we rely on for this daily supply? Our Father, Who is in Heaven! Do we think for a moment He is somehow incapable of providing His beloved children with the resources they need for the day's expected service?

Perhaps the most important lesson for me in all of this is that Jesus wants us to realize that God is in control. Furthermore, He wants us to remember this every single day for the entirety of our lives. We need to appreciate this, every day. We need to rely on Him and trust in him, again, every single day! We are a blessed people! We need to call this fact to mind on a daily basis. We know that God has given us a supply of bread that is just as certain as the manna that He gave to the children of Israel when they wandered the face of this earth. It is a daily miracle, when you think about it, and we need to call this great blessing to mind every day.

And it needs to be done without complaint. We don't need to whine about how expensive it has become, or murmur because the quality and variety seem subpar, or raise a voice of dissatisfaction in anyway to our Heavenly Father. What we do need to do, is to be thankful! Every day! Are we?

We are deeply loved by our Holy Father! Of course He will give us our daily bread, but we do need to ask. If we will keep these things in mind, every single day, it will help us to be a more appreciative and effective servant to the One who deserves nothing less. Aren't we a blessed people! Let us live that way, then, every day that we enjoy here on this earth. And then, there will be Heaven!