When I was little there was one Christian bookstore we always frequented.  It was called “Deeper Life” and it had the icthus on it; the ancient symbol of a fish.  In the days when Christians had to go underground in order to know if someone was safe they made a mark on the ground that arked upward from left down to right.  It was drawn as a feeler or sorts.  If the responder was a fellow disciple in Christ they would respond by completing the fish:  arking downward from left up to right.  I remember having this bread box on our table and every night we would read one of the short scriptures before dinner.  I always loved it.  Looking though Christmas catalogues this year I was thrilled to see someone had brought them back!  I bought one for us and quite a few as Christmas presents.  Tonight, as we have our Southern (slightly superstitious) traditional dinner of black-eyes, greens, and cornbread we are going to begin reading through them.  My daddy always took from the left and then put it at the end on the right; that way we were sure to go through all the scriptures.  As we begin a new year, full of hope and resolutions, I thought I would simply end with Jesus’ words, known as The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen.

My hope for everyone is that this be our daily bread.