The fresh bread of life

It’s early Saturday morning and the bread maker is humming on the counter right now. In exactly two hours a golden loaf will be ready to slice alongside my wife’s homemade chili. The house already smells like heaven. 

But this isn’t just any bread. It’s the same recipe our family has used for forty years—ever since we learned about it at a home school conference at the University of Indiana back in the mid-1980s.

We bought our Bosch grain grinder shortly after that conference, and we’ve been grinding our own flour ever since.

What makes this bread special is simple: the flour has to be freshly ground. We still use that same sturdy Bosch grinder we bought in 1985. At the core of this recipe is hard red winter wheat—nutritious, reliable, and full of the deep, wheaty flavor that store-bought bread can’t touch. 

In retirement I’ve taken over the bread-making duties, and lately I’ve been tinkering with the recipe. I now substitute a portion of the hard red winter wheat with einkorn, an ancient grain that has quietly become one of my favorite culinary upgrades.

Einkorn is one of the oldest cultivated wheats, unchanged for thousands of years. Compared with modern hybrid varieties, it offers higher protein, more beta-carotene, lutein, zinc, iron, magnesium, and fiber. Many folks find its gluten structure gentler and easier to digest. 

It also has a lower glycemic impact, so the energy from a slice of einkorn bread lasts longer and feels steadier. Best of all, it adds a lovely nutty sweetness that makes our forty-year-old family recipe taste even better.

Fresh bread can fill an empty belly in the most wholesome way. But it can only take you so far. Jesus understood this perfectly. After fasting forty days in the wilderness, when Satan tempted Him to turn stones into bread, the Lord answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4). 

Yes, we can exist on physical food alone, but we cannot truly thrive the way our Creator intended without the living words of Scripture.

Later, Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Those words are the real bread of life.

Here in Middle Georgia—right in the heart of the Bible Belt—we are surrounded by churches on nearly every corner. It’s easy to grow complacent. We can worship openly, carry a Bible in our pocket, and talk about Jesus at the senior center without a second thought. But that freedom is not the norm everywhere.

Just last week we received a sobering report from some very close missionary friends in India. The Indian government has stepped up its push to become a “Hindu-only” nation. New anti-conversion laws in several states now threaten Christians with arrest, loss of property, and even the loss of basic rights for their children. Simply sharing that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” can put a believer—and their entire family—in danger of losing everything, including the right to live.

Our missionary friends continue their quiet work anyway trusting God for protection. Their courage is a powerful reminder that the words of Scripture are not a luxury—they are life itself.

So while I wait for that warm loaf to finish baking, I’m grateful for both kinds of bread: the one that will soon be buttered and on our plates alongside our bowls of chili, and the eternal bread that fills our souls. Fresh-ground wheat and a forty-year recipe are wonderful blessings. But the greatest gift of all is the privilege we still enjoy in this country—the freedom to open God’s Word, speak His truth, and share the hope of Jesus without fear.

May we never take that freedom for granted. And may we, as seniors who have walked many miles, keep passing along both kinds of bread—to our families, our neighbors, and anyone hungry for something that truly satisfies.

Thanks for reading All About Seniors. See you next week!

PS, If you’d like the bread recipe, send me an email.

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA