By Angela Coon

It’s the beginning of the year and most of us are setting new goals. One that I always reset is reading through the Bible or spending more time in actual study of the Word. This is an important goal for spiritual formation but we seem to have such a difficult time making it a regular habit.  I thought you might be inspired, as I was, by a story I read in an email from Adrian Bissette as he shared an experience in Iraq this past year.

“It was a very sobering experience.  Here I was in Iraq sitting in a watch tower on the perimeter of our base where I could observe the locals. The homes were built of mud, brick and sticks.  I was freaked out by seeing the locals sleeping on their roofs, porches or decks to escape the heat.  They were living in what we would consider poverty. 

One house in particular belonged to a Kurdish family.  Early in the morning an elderly woman come out in the morning twilight to gather wood for a fire.  She was starting a fire in what looked like a chimney or brick oven.  I could not figure out what she was planning to make at such an early hour.  A few minutes later, a young girl emerged from the house wearing a bright red nightgown.  She brought with her a round wooden table about a foot tall.  She went back into the dilapidated house and quickly returned laboring under the weight of a plastic bag.  As the Grandmother poured out the bag’s contents I realized it was flour.  Here in the midst of a war torn life filled with despair and bleakness, a Grandmother was showing her granddaughter the most basic of skills, making bread.  Houses all around were destroyed from the initial days of the war, yet in the midst of all the destruction and chaos, the instinct to bake bread was alive and well.”

This story from the front lines of Iraq made me think of our own lives. We arise out of a sleep-number bed with pillow top comfort and super soft sheets to the aroma of coffee already brewing as previously preprogrammed. Running water, air conditioning or heat, electric stove, dish washer, toaster, can opener and microwave all at our convenience.  No need to make the bread, we have the choice of a myriad of fresh breads we’ve bought from the supermarket.   We can have a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, microwaved bacon and toasted English muffin with only minutes of preparation. 
We have no conscious fear of artillery fire, suicide terrorists or bombs exploding in our ears.  For the most part, we are free from the trauma of war. Yet, most of us have difficulty rising from our sleep to partake of the “living Word” already broken and ready for us. 

Our busy schedules flood our minds displacing basic instincts and needs.  We go soul starved into our warless worlds thinking we are fully equipped to face whatever comes our way.  Yet, in a far away war torn country a frail, an elderly woman prepares to make bread for the day. 

Oh that we would listen to the basic instinct of our spirit and soul and rise earlier than usual to feed on the living word prepared and ready to nourish our spirits, motivate our souls and set us on our course to face whatever comes our way today!
 
Angela M. Coon
Uniquely His

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