One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” (A Native American Metaphor)
During the week we were reading in daily prayer from the letter of James, all about the destructive power of the tongue,
“How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire.” (James 3:5b & 6)
We all know the temptation of the “wolf” tongue, which takes our evil and spreads it, magnifies it and reinforces it. We feed the bad wolf every time we dwell on the negativity in our head and heart but even more so when we allow it onto our tongue
Today our Sunday gospel reading has been from John’s gospel (John 6: 24-35) where Jesus describes himself as the “Bread of Life”.
It is all about the ways in which we “feed” ourselves, our bodies, our hearts, our minds, our thoughts and feelings. We can feed on the bread which gives us and all the world life or we can feed on malice.
God feeds us all the time, if only we spend time with him and listen. On Monday, I was told the story of the two wolves, all week we listened to James’ letter set as the daily reading. Today we are reminded to feed on Jesus, the Bread of Life. God has certainly been trying to get a message across to me all week. What has he been saying to you?