Sleeping with Bread: Sunshine grace and bread

Monday, July 26, 2010

Sunshine grace and bread

There is a thing called grace that is beautiful beyond measure. When life is hard, challenge surrounds, and efforts are (or aren't) made - there is grace. It is impossible for me to function without it - and really why would I try? On this cool morning, after a few weeks of oppressive heat and humidity; I 'm reminded of the newness of each day. The bread of this moment is this newness and the knowledge of the grace that steps with me in the day ahead.

What is you bread today?
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On my morning run, I was amazed to see a lovely sunrise, cool drips of leftover rain from the canopy of leafy trees, the a marble-like blue and white sky, and four deer with one stomping his left hoof at me as if I was interrupting his breakfast. Maybe I was, but all these things reminded me of the newness of each day and the grace available to swim, soak and live in. What a beautiful dawn of grace.

Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

To my surprise, and my delight
I saw sunrise, I saw sunlight
I am nothing in the dark
And the clouds burst to show daylight

Ooh and the sun will shine
Yeah on this heart of mine
Ooh and I realize
Who cannot live without
Ooh come apart without
It
On a hill top, on a sky-rise
Like a first born child
At full tilt, and in full flight
Defeat darkness, breaking daylight

Ooh and the sun will shine
Yeah on this heart of mine
Ooh and I realize
Who cannot live without
Ooh come apart without
Daylight

Slowly breaking through the daylight

Lyrics and music by Coldplay

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What is Sleeping with Bread?

During the bombing raids of WWII, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, "Today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow." (Linn, Dennis et al, Sleeping With Bread, p.l)

These are the beginning words of a book that introduced me to a practice called the examen. The orphans held on to what nourished them and were thus able to sleep peacefully at night. The examen, based on the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, helps a person hold onto what spiritually nourishes him by looking at what is giving him consolation in his life or causing him desolation. It allows someone to express his gratitude to God for the good stuff and turn to him for solace for the bad stuff. It is quite simple. You simply ask yourself, in the last day/week/month what gave me consolation and what caused me desolation.

How do you do it?

Sleeping with Bread is a Monday meme. You can participate in one of two ways: 1) Pick one of the above examen question sets and answer it in the comments section of my SWB post; or, 2) Create your own Sleeping with Bread post. You are welcome to right click on the Sleeping with Bread button and save it to your own computer before uploading into your post. Then, make sure you come back and put the link to your post in the automated Mr. Linky form at the end of the current SWB post. I hope you will join me and my fellow bakers as we Sleep with Bread on Mondays!