“When you pray, say: `Father…give us each day our daily bread.'” —Lk 11:2-3
How folks interpret this part of the Lord’s prayer are many and varied, but to me it is more of a reassurance that as long as I keep working hard in my life, in all aspects of life then I don’t need to worry about where my next meal is coming from. There have been many days when I have worried about my family’s finances (OK most days) but if I remember these words, I feel more assured.
Should I assume that I don’t need to do anything to get my Daily Bread? I don’t make that assumption, because Heaven helps those who help themselves (another phrase to live by for a Sunday).
Another intrepretation I’ve read in a Dale Carnegie book is that one shouldn’t ask for anything beyond today’s meal. It’s a way of keeping one focused more on the current moment than worrying excessively about the future.
Another part of Carnegie’s book talks about a pastor who is worried about all the work he has to do in the future, when he sees his wife happily doing dishes (I guess it was a different time 😉 ). This reminds him that if he had to, in one sitting, wash all the dishes he’ll ever use until he dies, he would be a miserable man. Since we only have to do only our daily dishes, it is much more manageable. He equated all his worrying about the future to washing all the dishes he would ever dirty.
The book is “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, by Dale Carnegie, in case anyone is interested. I’m sure his telling of the story is much less confusing than my paraphrase.