Of Baguettes and Pains Chocolats

I love bread! During our four months as expatriots in Paris, we ate baguettes at least daily. Every evening, I would walk to the patisserie (bakery) and get two baguettes -- one to eat as I walked back to our flat, and one for dinner with the family. Seriously. It was one of my very favorite things about living in Paris. In fact, when my husband went back to Paris, I asked him to bring me one home on the plane. Nothin' like a real Parisian baguette!

And the pains chocolats!!! Oh man, my mouth waters just remembering them! French chocolate wrapped in a perfectly flaky, homemade croissant. A meal in itself, the pain chocolat definitely held its own in our Parisian home.

So when I think of how Jesus called Himself "The Bread of Life", I gotta' think He was referring to the very finest and most satisfying of bread! I'm not talking about Wonder bread (although, I must say, Wonder holds a special place in my childhood memories, as I think of getting to eat it at my grandma's house because my mom never bought it. Weird that I remember that, huh?) Anyway, Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. . . I am the Bread -- living Bread!" (John 6, The Message) I seriously think I could have lived on that bread in Paris. Mmmmmm. Yum! And when I think about Him calling Himself the Living Bread, the only kind of bread we will ever need, it makes me wanna' know THAT kind of Bread. To taste it. But I wonder what tasting THIS Bread entails. I think it has to do with taking Him for all He says He is and all He says He will do. I think it means believing Him absolutely. Living like I believe it! Living out HIS definition of living, according to Scripture. Not looking for satisfaction and joy in what doesn't last (like making my house looks good, or eating all kinds of great food, or even finding all kinds of great deals on clothes and making my kids and myself look good).

And I have to believe that in order to know that definition, Jesus' definition of life, I need to know more of what He said. And I need to obey it.

I read this and have to believe that not only did Jesus come to fulfill my deepest, intimate, humanly-unmeetable needs. But He also came in order to show me the real definition of living. Like what we know as life, without Him, is not really life at all. I mean to say that "eternal life" is not only living forever, but is also living for real!

I was reading the Bible this morning in John chapter 6. Jesus said, "Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food . . . Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. . . This is what the Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life."

That's the life I want. For real. And forever.