Getting Ahead: ‘The heel of the loaf’

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Growing up there were five children in our home. I had three brothers and one sister. With Mom and Dad we were seven. It can take a lot of food to feed four growing boys, my sister, and Mom and Dad. We were not even allowed to say that we didn’t like something that Mom had prepared for us. A good meal was not taken for granted.

We had plenty, but not more than enough. My Dad was raised during the great depression and there were times when they didn’t have enough to eat. The only exception to the rule of eating everything that was set before us was that we were allowed to eat around the heels in a loaf of bread. We could open a loaf of bread and lift the heel to get to the full slice beyond it. That has been many years ago and it wasn’t until very recently that I realized I was still lifting the heel to get to the next slice of bread.

I thought about it and it wasn’t that I did not like to eat the heel; it was just something that I had always done. I found myself leaving the heel until the rest of the loaf was gone. When there was nothing left of the loaf of bread, I would then eat the heel. I had lifted that heel time and time again until it was the only thing left in the loaf. This is a very simple thing but it started me thinking: why?

How many things do I keep doing because it is what I have always done? Am I exerting extra effort to keep doing these things? Could there be people in my life that are like the heel: it is not that I really don’t like them; I just keep pushing them to the side? Could it be that I am the heel?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.

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By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Writer

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