God and Bread

The below is a poem recently handed to my father by his godmother, the 90 year old Irma Faye Polk of Iowa. Her mother, Mamie Hatten, copied it down long ago, and Mrs. Polk keeps it tucked in her Bible. I do not know who wrote it. [Anyone know the author?]

Back of the loaf
Is the snowy flour
And back of the flour
The mill
And back of the mill
The wheat and the shower
The sun and the Father's Will.

Isn't that lovely?

Another poem she copied long ago:

Loving enough to forgive
This the greatest test
And strangely the forgiven
Becomes the one most blest.

This last one reminds me of the curious economy of God's Kingdom that CS Lewis speaks of. To paraphrase -- he speaks of the principle that the surest way to not find happiness is to go searching for it.

The best way to find happiness is to engage yourself in life, in work, in giving and loving...and suddenly happiness rounds the street corner and falls into step next to you. But don't fix your eyes on it too closely, or like a stranger it melts into the crowd and is gone. As Lewis remarks, how true is Christ's statement, "He who loses His life for my sake, will find it."

Perhaps this is true with everything... except the search for God. Ask, Seek, Knock. Go looking for Him and -- be careful -- you just might find Him.