Daily Inspiration

“Excuse me,” said the young man, standing awkwardly at the open church door. “I’m here to pick up an Easter basket for my daughter. Am I in the right place?” “Well, we have baskets, but they’re not Easter baskets for kids; they’re food baskets,” I explained. That morning I had arrived early at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church here in Carmichael, California, to help distribute the baskets to needy families for Easter. To make sure everyone was taken care of, we had handed out numbers to the recipients that matched the basket they were supposed to receive. Each one contained a full Easter dinner—a whole ham, potatoes, bread, vegetables and a pie—plus enough staples to help feed a family for a week. “Why don’t you come in?” I offered the man. He looked disappointed. He shook his head, and peered over his shoulder. “I can’t…my daughter is waiting for me in the car,” he said. He gave her a little wave and turned back toward me. “I’m grateful for the food, but when I heard you were g...

Father was a hardworking man who delivered bread as a living to support his wife and three children. He spent all his evenings after work attending classes, hoping to improve himself so that he could one day find a better paying job. Except for Sundays, Father hardly ate a meal together with his family. He worked and studied very hard because he wanted to provide his family with the best money could buy. Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. But he often yearned to spend more time with his family. The day came when the examination results were announced. To his joy, Father passed, and with distinctions too! Soon after, he was offered a good job as a senior supervisor which paid handsomely. Like a dream come true, Father could now afford to provide his family with life’s little luxuries like nice clothing, fine food and vacation abroad. However, the family still did not get to see father f...