This devotion was written by Nancy Jenkins for the August Mental Health Team meeting.

Sometime during the Pandemic, my friend (and also a member at Grace) Stephen Hirt suggested that I watch the YouTube video of Mr. Rogers’ acceptance speech for his lifetime achievement award at the Emmy’s in 1997. Nearly 3.5 million people have watched this clip. Mr. Rogers starts his brief and humble speech by saying, “It’s a beautiful night in this neighborhood. So many people have helped me to come to this night. Some of you are here. Some are far away. Some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are – those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life.”

The introduction to this clip suggests that viewers close their eyes as they remember who loved them and helped shape them. I invite you to do the same here now. Ten seconds of silence. For those of you who would like to watch the video of Mr. Rogers’ speech, I have included the link below.

After the 10 seconds of silence Mr. Rogers then says, “Whomever you’ve been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they’ve made.” So I ask you:

· Who did you think about?

· How did you feel as you remembered them?

· Do we have a similar impact on other people?

This week one of my daily devotional sources, Inward/Outward, focused their meditations on the theme of bread. I know that nutritionally speaking I shouldn’t admit this, but I LOVE bread. I have bread at every meal. I’m going to share two brief readings from their devotions about bread. A midrash (a Hebrew term and method for interpreting stories in the Bible – that’s my working definition) –A midrash tells us that

when the world was created God made everything a little bit incomplete. Rather than making bread grow right out of the earth, God made wheat grow so that we might bake it into bread. In this way we could become partners in completing the work of creation… Recognition. Repetition. Reverence. Receiving. These are ways we grow to know that we ourselves are integral parts of the whole. We, too, are manna… We must work with time and patience if we want to make bread. There is no point in making it if we do not accept this. This is true of loving also. Awareness … acceptance … patience. It takes everything we have to be able to live this way. It means that we finally take up what is ours to do and let go of what is beyond our abilities. Life corrects us if we do not learn this.”

I love the statement that God made everything a little bit incomplete!!! So, I say this to each of you. You too are manna for someone. You are making bread. You are making a difference in the lives of others by who you are and through your love for them.

God of Bread and God of Incomplete – Thank you for the people who have helped shape our lives in love. Thank you for those things in our lives that we realize are incomplete because they remind us of our need for You. Give us the energy and will to work towards Your completion. Thank you for giving us our “daily bread”; may we be bread to others. In your name we pray! Amen.