Manna

AI's version of manna, thanks ChatGPT

There’s a story in the Bible about manna.

After the Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery, Moses led them through the wilderness en route to the Promised Land.

But it only took a month or two before the Israelites started grumbling.

We are starving! If only we were back in Egypt, where we had all the food we wanted!

So God, compassionate and patient despite their complaints, provided the Israelites with manna—bread rained down from the heavens. Each morning, after the dew had melted around their camp, thin white flakes appeared on the desert floor.

The Israelites saw it and asked “what is it?” It looked like coriander seeds. It tasted like wafers made with honey.

Moses had to tell them: “This is your bread from God!”

God’s gift, however, came with conditions. The people were to gather the manna in the morning, but only collect enough for that one day’s needs and to trust that God would provide more the next day.

Some people listened. Others didn’t. Those who grabbed more manna than they needed and tried to stash it discovered it spoiled rotten the following morning. They forgot to trust that tomorrow’s provision would come tomorrow.

They forgot to trust. And so do we.

We are those grumbling Israelites. And there’s an important lesson baked into that bread.

Just enough for the day.

We should gather and collect what we need for today, and have faith that what we need tomorrow will come then. And the day after that. And on and on.

As a chronic worrier, I find my gaze constantly set on an unknown future, my thoughts fixed upon outcomes that rarely come to pass. I gather and collect to-do lists and ambitions, anxious about what’s to come instead of what is right in front of me.

The translation of the Hebrew word manna is the phrase “what is it?”.

Maybe that’s the better question.

What is it that I need today? Today, and that’s it.

Worry not only clouds our vision, it clouds our memory. We focus so much on what might happen that we fail to notice what has happened. All of the days we’ve survived. All of the times we’ve been given exactly what we needed when we needed it. All of the moments manna has fallen out of the sky.

Look behind you. See that path of past provision? It’s been there the whole time.

One day at a time.

Gather today’s needs rather than someday’s needs.

Smaller baskets are easier on the back anyway.

My memoir, Piece by Piece: A Life Remembered through Things Lost, is available here.

Have you ever wanted to write your life story but you don’t know where to start? Join me for a one-hour online (you don’t even have to leave your home) legacy writing workshop on June 22, 2026. Sign up here. Space is limited so register soon!