Our Daily Bread

"Give us this day our daily bread." Many have broken the Lord's prayer into six petitions, the first three directed godward and the last three directed towards the needs and dynamics of humankind. We have just prayed "on earth as it is in heaven" and now when we turn to the needs of this earth, Jesus gives us a petition that encompasses all things. To ask God to give us our daily bread is to ask him to provide all things necessary in this life; good governance, the blessing of rain, machines and skills to grind, creative hands to fashion and all for the sake of the well-being of this world, the sustenance of humankind. To ask for our daily bread is to ask for neither poverty nor riches, but to ask for dependence on God for our needs to be met that humankind might flourish in this life for which God made us. He cares about all of it.