Rector’s Blog, Nourished by Giving - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

I could drop a loaf of bread off on your doorstep and ring your doorbell, and see you smile through a window, or from a bit of a distance and we could have little awkward conversations that meant I love you even when we didn't say it. My job is to facilitate a community that is founded on love. And most of the ways we knew how to share that love were just gone for a devastating amount of time. We are nourished by love and for a time there, many of us felt like we were starving. I began to pray while mixing the dough together. I would say a prayer for the specific people for whom I delivered the bread. I would think of them as I removed the lid from the piping hot Dutch oven and saw how the bread had risen. I did not wait around to watch them eat it; I did not sit by my phone waiting for thank you texts. I'm not saying I didn't care if they liked it or not. I always hoped they did of course. But I was not fed by gratitude. I was nourished by the giving. The feeling of being able to do something for someone else is deeply fulfilling, and that is no accident. It is built into us.