give us our daily bread

Give us our daily bread. I have noticed lately that one thing that keeps me going is looking forward to my next meal. The work is so continuous and mind numbing, that the hunger in my stomach is the only real feeling I experience each day. I just read that sentence and realize how drastic it is, and I don't think I am quite as over the top as it sounds, but it has some truth in it. The joys I experience in conversation in between classes are mostly lost, as most of the time I am thinking of some piece of work I could be finishing. The one thing that I have that pulls my mind out is the need to stop and eat. And a wonderful thing happens when I sit to eat. I must stop, take my time, even work a little to get things just the way I want. The simple pleasure of enjoying a meal forces my mind out of the books and papers and allows it to rest on somthing wonderful and simple. Daily bread is more than sustinence; it is a connection to our true selves.
My other moment in reading today is that the slow peace of reading these texts is getting lost as I read them on the screen. Unfortunately I am in the library so I cannot say them out loud, where their pace can calm and focus my mind. Instead I find the phrases flying by in that usual pace that I now read at. I still catch meaning mind you, but the peace of being actively engaged in speaking them in a congregation is very hard to capture.