Our Daily Bread

According to an article in The New York Times, the act of smiling can promote good feelings. Writer Daniel Goleman cites experiments in which researchers found that saying the word cheese caused a person to smile, which in turn created pleasant feelings. On the other hand, saying the word few created a different facial expression, which resulted in negative emotions.

While visiting a Christian’s home, I saw these words displayed on a wall plaque: “You love Jesus only as much as you love the person you love the least.” I squirmed at those revealing words. Later I found similar words in 1 John 4:20, “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

In 1991, two operations restored Shirl Jennings’ sight after 40 years of blindness. His family and friends reacted with absolute euphoria, but the next day Shirl’s fiance recorded in her diary that he was “trying to adjust to being sighted . . . . Not able to trust vision yet. . . . Like [a] baby just learning to see, everything new, exciting, scary, unsure of what seeing means.”

One of the world’s greatest architects, Sir Christopher Wren, undertook the task of helping to rebuild London after it had been nearly destroyed by fire in 1666. One day he visited the site where a large church building was under construction. He called out to a laborer perched high on a scaffold, “What are you doing up there?” With pride that man called back, “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren build a cathedral!”

President Harry Truman was once asked to speak at a fund-raising project to help the children of a White House guard who was slain in the line of duty. With great emotion he said, “You can’t imagine just how a man feels when someone else dies for him.”

Many churches celebrate what is known as Trinity Sunday. Someone might say, “Who cares? With all the practical, everyday problems we face, why talk about such a complicated doctrine as the Trinity?” The problem with such thinking is that we cannot clearly grasp the truth of our salvation without having some understanding of the Trinity.

At the farewell for a minister who had served his church for 20 years, several preachers eloquently extolled his many virtues. One layman, however, paid a tribute that the pastor considered to be the most gratifying. He said, “I have observed him nearly every day for the past 20 years, and I’ve never seen him in a hurry!”

It was dawn, and I was painfully aware of being only a few weeks into widowhood. After another restless night, I felt too weary to pray for myself. “Lord,” I sighed, “I need someone to pray for me right now.”

Few people have ever heard of Lilias Trotter, but it didn’t have to be that way. A young art student in 19th-century England, Trotter had great talent as a painter. The well-known artist and professor John Ruskin recognized it, took her under his tutelage, and saw her ability blossom over a short time. In a letter he stated that she was “the best of my pupils.” She was to become the next Ruskin protege of renown.

I read a story some time ago about an aspiring young golfer who spent hours in his backyard practicing his golf swing. He wasn’t allowed to use a real golf ball close to the house, only a plastic, practice ball.