Bread of Heaven

It didn't matter how rushed we thought we were, there was no breakfast at our house until mother had read the daily devotional from The Upper Room and prayed.

One morning, when I was still a child, the devotional passage was about the manna God provided to feed the multitude who followed Moses across the desert wilderness.

"What did manna taste like?" I wanted to know. "Can I have some?"

"No," mother explained. "That bread was just for God's Hebrew children, and then just for that special time of need. Now God provides a different kind of bread for us. You know how your grandfather Long plows his fields and puts in the little kernels of corn."

"Yes, mother."

"And God makes the little kernels grow into tall stalks with ears of corn. Then that corn is taken to a mill to be ground. You know, like the gristmill in Uncle Charlie's store. Then, I get the meal and add oil and milk and egg to it and cook it. This is the bread God has provided for us now." She broke off a piece of the corn bread she had made and gave it to me.

It was the best manna I ever tasted.