Manna and croissants
Our daily bread
One of the biggest temptations I struggle with is extrapolating present-day frustrations into the future: God isn’t listening to me, nothing will ever go my way.
Of course, I know as well as you do that that is ridiculous, but sometimes my mind goes there, even when I know with my full heart, soul, and mind that it is NOT true.
But what I’ve started to implement, whenever my mind goes running off into the future or dancing back into the past, is what I’m deeming a “Daily Bread Check.” Here’s what I mean:
Today, am I healthy and able to move my body? Check.
Today, do I have a job that pays the bills and challenges / sanctifies me? Check.
Today, am I surrounded by a community of people that loves me and prays for me and reminds me of truth and makes me a better person? Check.
Today, do I have the gift of faith to look up instead of around when I need guidance? Check.
Daily bread — provided, today.
This is what Jesus reminds us to ask for in the Our Father: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Like the Israelites in the desert, God provides exactly the manna we need to receive TODAY — with the command not to store it up or take more than we need. And what I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks is that God not only provides the necessary bread I need to survive, but also loves to delight me in ways only He knows will revive my spirit and bring me joy. It’s not only my daily bread — it’s my daily croissant, filled with warmth and butter and joy ;)
For example, I entered this weekend feeling a little down, and it turned out to be incredibly life-giving thanks to the “croissant moments” that God poured out on me:
I was in Mass and saw the most heartwarming interaction that I knew God had meant just for me
While I was getting my nails done, the tech (with absolutely no context clues or information about my life) encouraged me to pray, reminding me, “Sometimes it feels like God isn’t listening, but He always is, and He wants you to talk with Him.”
I ran into my favorite author (Gretchen Rubin) on the street in DC and spent ten minutes chatting with her about St. Therese (she’s not Catholic but loves St. Therese so we got to chat about Lisieux and I gave her all my tips!)
Friends and I went adventuring in West Virginia, wandering around Harper’s Ferry and enjoying all the fall leaves and deep convos at the brewery that evening
I was so rejuvenated by an after-Mass coffee on Sunday that turned into three hours of encouragement and deep conversation with my beloved friends
A glorious dinner at Osteria Mozza, with so much laughter and yummy food
Daily bread… plus so much more.
I often get trapped thinking that if God doesn’t answer this or that specific prayer right now, He’s not loving or paying attention to me. And that’s exactly how the Enemy wants us to think — he wants our eyes so focused on one particular, frustrating area in our life that we completely miss the little gifts that God is pouring out every day! But the paradox is that once I wrench my eyes away from the one thing I perceive is lacking in my life, my hope and trust go through the roof as I see how God is indeed providing, in abundance. (Not to mention the zillions of times I wanted something and God did not give it to me and I later realized He did that precisely BECAUSE He loved me too much to give me what I thought I wanted in that moment.)
I invite you to do your own daily bread checks this week. Maybe you are sick, so the whole health thing is out the window — but could God be loving you through the way that people show up to care for you, or even just the forced rest that comes from feeling under the weather? Maybe you’re looking for a job and frustrated, but could God be working in that in a way you won’t know or see for months when He opens the right door to an incredible new career?
I don’t know how God is making Himself known to you in your life right now, but I know that He is. I pray we all have the grace to see His movements and thank Him for His presence this week!
With peace (and croissants),
Jane
Fun is fun!!
I’m not the biggest fan of team events (we spend so much time together working during the day that going out to a three-hour dinner can be a lot), but this week we went to TopGolf and had truly the MOST fun two hours hitting golf balls into the different targets. It was such a great reminder of the power of play! And now I want to go back every week…
One of my favorite sermons from Tim Keller that I went back to last week. Such a good encouragement!
My favorite Hallow series
Fr. Tim Gallagher is the GOAT and his Daily Contemplation series on Hallow is so good — a perfect series to lean into if you’re feeling a little dry in prayer. He gives about ten minutes of reflections and it always leads me into a much longer, beautiful prayer. I highly recommend!
I’m obsessed w this song
I have strong mixed feelings about “Nobody Wants This” on Netflix from which I will spare you, BUT I do think this song is an absolute BOP and have it on repeat right now:
Anthropologie Christmas Plates
I walked into Anthropologie committed to not buying anything… until I saw the Christmas city plates!! Every year they pick a few cities, and this year they included Paris and DC so I knew I needed them! Oops - but I’m excited to have these out for the next two months!
Prayer intentions
For a few special intentions