A Word on Wednesday: Bread

Walking into a kitchen with freshly baked bread offers one of the most soothing and comforting smells. It subtly invites gentleness and goodness. The aroma calls, "you are welcome here."  

Concretely, "bread" is a noun naming the food made of flour or meal mixed with milk or water, made into a dough or batter, with or without yeast or other leavening agents, and baked. 

World Communion Sunday is a celebration observed by several Christian denominations, taking place on the first Sunday of every October that promotes Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation. It focuses on an observance of the Eucharist. Across the world, Christians will gather on Oct. 7, uniting in Christ in fellowship with one another while being connected to an approximate billion partaking in the same ritual. 

However, the idiom "break bread" is indeed very secular as an expression to eat a meal in companionship with others. The fellowship of sharing a meal is common in business, in family, and in community. Working lunches. Team dinners. Birthday parties. Fundraising meals. Soup kitchens. 

A meal anchors us. The bread basket is passed, which we accept as a warming ritual of connecting. 

Abstractly, "bread" can be shorthand for food or sustenance or even livelihood and, in slang, money. Author Sue Monk Kidd offers this abstraction: "Our stories are the best 'bread' we can offer each other." 

Stories can comfort, welcome, and connect us. What can be said to one another to emote that same warm invitation as a lightly-browned loaf? 

A Word on Wednesday: Guilt

Shame: Who I am is not okay.

Guilt: What I do is not okay.

Growing up Catholic, I developed a misunderstanding of shame. The Catholic Church often gets blamed for this, and it is certainly not the only place one learns shame and shame is NOT central to Catholic teachings.

Guilt is. This is true of ALL Christian religions. (This is why the savior Jesus Christ is paramount to our salvation, but I'll save this exploration for the theologians and my private study on living the faith.)

Today, Ash Wednesday, we enter a dark period of reflecting on our guilt over our shortcomings, our human, inane falling short. Our "sin." My understanding of sin derives from its Hebrew root "to miss the mark." So as we all miss the mark, one must acknowledge guilt, ask for forgiveness --  from ourselves, from those we have wronged, and perhaps from a deity, a savior.

While it is easy to get suck in guilt, it is more important to seek forgiveness. For acknowledging wronging doing and making reconciliation is an active path. It moves toward peace.

A Word on Wednesday: Sum

The Latin sum (rhymes with room) translates to "I am." 

Sum is "a state of being." 

This is not to be confused as a verb such as

Today --

I am writing.

I am eating healthy foods.

I am loving my family.

I am packing for a family trip.

I am having a romantic dinner.

I am taking a walk.

I am enjoying the view from here.

I am grateful for this day

Sum

I am. 

Regardless of if you are a mother, father, sister, brother, writer, accountant, teacher, child, black, white, rebulican, democrate, christian, muslim, greek, swimmer, runner, or any other affiliation or designation. Sum is simple entire.

I am. 

That is all. 

A complete sentence.

A complete thought. 

Sum. 

A word: Onward

You will not find "onward" on a compass rose. 

No one is sure where it goes.

Yet. I. Find. Tomorrow. Each. Time. I. Move. In. Its. Direction. 

Onward  

--is often, and always -- 

The Only Way To Go

A Word on Wednesday: Restore

Today, I celebrate the word restore. 

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The verb restore is one to use in prose, poetry, and conversation. It is precise in its promise of righting wrongs. The practice of restoring requires faith in bringing back the authenticity of the original. Restoring provides the opportunity to make whole again.

Restore's intended use with an object has resonating applications for both concrete and abstract nouns.

Photo Restoration 

Concretely, one can restore furniture, paintings, photographs, jewelry, buildings, vehicles, musical instruments, clothing, statues, or documents. This is not to be confused with replicating or replacing.






The action word restore is also one to practice in living.

And here, I refer to abstract objects -- the ideas, the man made constructs:

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• Self
• Faith
• Trust
• Friendship
• Health
• Hope
• Vigor
• Confidence
• Strength
• Love
• Peace
• Order

This abstract restoration offers the best chance at sustaining our most authentic self. Listen to your genuine cravings for well being to restore what becomes lost in the busyness of living.