Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

I have always enjoyed CES (Church Educational System) Firesides. I stopped attending them once we moved out of our last student ward, but I am happy to be able to listen to them online. In the last fireside, the speaker was Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He talked about the story of the Children of Israel in the wilderness in a way I don't remember hearing before. The Lord sent manna to them every day, and every day they could only gather enough to eat for that day (except for the Sabbath Day). This was the Lord's way of keeping the Children of Israel close to Him because they had to rely on Him EVERY DAY to receive their daily bread. Elder Christofferson compared this to the need we have to rely on the Lord EVERY DAY to give us the blessings we need for that particular day. We can pray to Him every day. We need his help and guidance every day.

I especially loved this quote:

I have suggested that asking for and receiving daily bread at God’s hand plays a vital part in learning to trust God and in enduring life’s challenges. We also need a daily portion of divine bread to become what we must become. To repent, improve, and eventually reach “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13), as Paul expressed it, is a step-by-step process. Incorporating new and wholesome habits into our character or overcoming bad habits or addictions most often means an effort today followed by another tomorrow, and then another, perhaps for many days, even months and years, until victory is achieved. But we can do it because we can appeal to God for our daily bread, for the help we need each day.

Quote and picture credit found here: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=8c83cccfea02b210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=43d031572e14e110VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD

If you want to listen, go here:

http://broadcast.lds.org/ces-firesides/2011/2011-01-1000-give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread-64k-eng.mp3