I haven't started reading the obituaries. I swear. But yesterday at lunch I opened the paper, and the sections I usually read first (front page, sports, editorials) didn't last through the second half of my sandwich. So I opened the city section, which includes the local obits. The longest one caught my eye, I read it through--and I'm glad I did. If I hadn't, I would have passed over Dr. Joe, and I believe he deserves a nod.

This gentleman, a scholar, university professor, scientist, and researcher apparently had a notable academic career. But, the obituary said, he was proudest of a non-profit he began nearly 50 years ago that provided shelter for those visiting the city for extended medical treatment. For these nearly 7500 families--from 49 states and 60-plus foreign countries, he baked bread. That's right. Bread.

"He used his chemistry skills," I read, "to bake sourdough bread, which he gave to welcome...guests, to encourage volunteers, and to thank donors. How much bread? 35,000 loaves, give or take. 35,000 loaves. That's a lot of baking for an amateur.

Dr. Joe's story made me wonder, couldn't someone else have done that? A bakery, maybe? And they certainly could have. But they didn't. He did. Then I imagined all the lives he must have touched with those loaves of bread. Bread for strangers. Bread for friends. Loaf after loaf after loaf. A legacy of fresh-baked love.

He had other things, important things, to offer. But I'll bet every person who received one of those loaves remembers it.

What are you giving away? What are you willing to do over and over for love? What simple thing can you do, and will you? Baking is ordinary. Writing is too. In ten years, I've written just over 500 devotionals like this one and week by week, sent them off to more strangers than friends. That sounded like a lot to me until I read Dr. Joe's obituary. 500? Meh. Times 70, girl--then we'll talk, right Joe?

There's an exquisite beauty in a habit of small offerings, made with great love. Anyone can...but not everyone does. Joe did. Will you? Will I?

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. (Matthew 6:10,11 NASB) 

�Leigh McLeroy, 2014