The greatest gift of all

High in the hills in a lonely little village there once lived a Baker. The Baker supplied all the bread for the people living in his little village everyday and everyone knew and loved his smile and friendly nature. As is often the case, there lived a few families in and around the village who were too poor to even buy bread, but at the end of each day's work the Baker would lay out what was left of his unsold loaves for the poor of the village. The children of those poor families would all gather around the door of the bakery and, as the Baker laid out the bread on the table, all the children would rush to gain their prize. The Baker was always firm in his rule that each child could take one loaf and only one loaf, as, if any of them took more, there would not be enough to go around. The Baker always watched with a little sadness as the biggest and strongest boys would push their way forward to grab the largest loaves of bread. Inevitably the smallest children were left with the smallest loaves. 

Every day the smallest loaf of bread would be picked up by a little girl who always stood at the back of the crowd, But as this little girl whose name was Anna picked up the loaf of bread she would always turn and whisper to the Baker, “thank you for your kindness.” One day as Anna got to the table, she found that all the bread had gone. But as she turned away to walk home, the Baker called her back. Handing her a freshly baked loaf of bread he said, “this is for you Anna.” With shining eyes the little girl took the bread and, with a big smile, muttered her usual “thank you.”When she got home to her mother, the bread was cut up for their evening meal. But as they started sharing out the slices, they found several silver coins in the middle of the bread. “Anna,” said her mother, “the Baker must have dropped these in by accident. You must take them back at once.” Dutifully, the little girl run all the way back to the Baker shop to find that the Baker was just locking the front door of his shop.

“I found these inside the loaf of bread you gave me.” said a little girl breathlessly. “I think you must have dropped them in by accident!” The Baker turned and smiled. “No, it was no accident!” he told her, “these are a gift for my best customer!”“But I've never bought any bread from you.” she said  “Yes you have.” he said, “and you have paid for each one with the most precious thing ever. You have always said thank you.”

Simple words of thanks can mean so much but all too often we take things for granted. Sadly the greatest gift of all often goes unnoticed. The apostle Paul could write the words “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!” The gift of eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ is the most precious thing of all. But how many fail to receive it and fail to give thanks for it.

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (26/11/25)

Written by STEPHEN TRESEDER