We do not need to own a kitchen or spend time in one to know the significance of bread. We need never see a bread recipe or try our hand at baking to realize that bread is a profound and ancient symbol for life.
Flour and salt—the makings of bread—were frequently brought to our early altars. The sacrifices were made in recognition of the fact that we are fundamentally creatures of need. These offerings were petitions for sustenance. We have understood from the beginning how dependent and vulnerable we are. We have known that in order to live we will always have to receive and care for the gifts of life.
And we have also known that we must share these gifts. They are not for us alone. Hoarded, they molder just as uneaten bread molders. We must share life, share bread with each other. We are each given only so much time. And to make this time matter, in order to really live, we need to give, we need to receive. We need to love. Bread, life, and love are fused in the soul of human experience.
Deep in our souls we know that we are the bread of life and that to become conscious of this and to live it makes all the difference . . . it frees us to be more truly human and to care for each other.

Gunilla Norris, adapted from Becoming Bread

Gunilla Norris is a writer, meditation teacher, and psychotherapist in private practice. She is the author of the spiritual classics Being Home and Becoming Bread, and has also written eleven children’s books and two books of poetry. She lives in Mystic, Connecticut.