Give us this day
The Lord’s Prayer continues with the words “our daily bread”. St. Peter’s Kitchen offers our daily bread and more. The weather was getting cold when I first walked down the basement steps. I came to eat but really wasn’t hungry. My appetite disappeared for nearly a year. My clothes were loose and friends were worried. I didn’t know what to expect as I pushed through the door. I came as is; without hearing, my only skill is reading lips. It might be easier this way, no conversation, I could be what I wanted, an invisible person.
A kind man greeted me at the door, and showed me the trays and wrapped napkins. Then, I saw outstretched arms. Before I knew what I was doing, I opened my arms too and got a warm and caring hug. I moved through the food line, each person asking whether I would like the main course, vegetables, salad, fruit, dessert and juice. There was compassion and respect in their eyes. I saw warmth and smiles. This was not what I expected~it was so much better.
This winter, I’ve come again and again to St. Peter’s Kitchen. I come for the hugs, the food, the shared harvest of breads, coats, clothes, socks, calendars and friendship. I now choose to be visible and share my life with others. I can feel some appetite now and then. I come to regain a sense of the familiar; where each day I have worth, I am important, I can meet another’s needs. I’m finding that I am so much closer than I thought. I needed an anchor while I worked to steer my life in the right direction. I needed to know there was a safe place for me, where it mattered if I showed up. I needed to know I could feed myself with bread when funds were low. I found all of it at St. Peter’s Kitchen. Now, life is starting to show signs of progress, just in time for spring. The new green growth ready to poke through the snow will echo the hope growing in my grateful heart.
Anonymous.