Heavenly

"Mama, I know what I'm giving you for your Christmas present that I never got to give you," my daughter Amy said over the phone awhile back. "A panini!" she said.  A panini?  I wasn't sure what it was, though I figured it was some kind of sandwich maker, since I'd seen these sandwiches on the menu at different restaurants.

We saw Amy and our granddaughters at our son's house in Houston for Easter. After an incredible week-end, and as we were taking our leave, Amy pressed something into my hand.  "Here is $50 for you to buy a panini press," she said.  "I'm sorry it took so long."  That was the least of my worries, because I know what a busy life she leads, with a demanding job and three emerging young adults in her house. College, proms, cars and all manner of needs and activities vie for her attention.

As soon as  we got home from our trip, we set out to buy a panini press.  I had no idea where to  get one, but we found one at a department store in another city.  It was marked $99.00, though.  However, the sign said, "Reduced: $69.00." We decided to take it, and at the register we were given other discounts, so the total was something like $54.00!  Perfect!  When I told our daughter about it, she said that it was a fancier one than she had!

Now we are enjoying the new appliance.  We find ourselves shopping for it, getting tempting cold cuts and experimenting with special breads.  Her father loves the pressed, toasted sandwiches with the grill marks on them. I found out "panini" is the Italian word for "pressed bread."

I thought about Jesus in the garden of Gethsamane.  The word, "Gethsamane" means place of the olive press.  Jesus went there on the night He was betrayed.  It was among the old olive trees on the night of His passion that he prayed while His disciples slept. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsamane and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder," Matthew 26:36.

It was as if Jesus were being pressed in the olive press, because his agony was so intense that the Bible says in Luke 22:44, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

Knowing that bread is "the staff of life," for people, Jesus called himself "the bread of life."  John 6:35, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

During the feast of Passover, the Jews ate unleavened bread called Matzah bread.  It was baked flat and with tiny holes pierced into it for even baking.  The holes were in lines, and when the bread baked, ridges arose and were browned intermittently, making the bread looked striped. The stripes and piercing of Jesus are are seen in this representation.

The heavy top that presses down  on our panini grill marks our bread with stripes.  I don't think I'll ever look at the grill marks the same way, remembering how our Bread of Life came down from heaven and gave His all for our salvation.  Thank you, Amy, for the gift given at Easter, the day of His resurrection!