Just One Piece?

By Jane McBride

(Based on a true story)

Todd had a hard time sitting still during sacrament meeting. He swung his feet. He wiggled in his seat.

Todd liked to sit on Daddy’s lap at church. But Daddy was out of town today. “Todd,” Mommy whispered. “It’s time to be reverent during the sacrament.” She gave him a copy of the Friend.

Todd looked at the pictures. But soon he got tired of being still. He held his baby sister, Sarah’s, hand. She wrapped her tiny fingers around his. Todd smiled.

Soon the bread tray was passed to him. Todd was hungry. He used both hands to grab lots of bread. Mommy frowned. She said, “Next time, just take one.”

After the meeting, Mommy smiled at Todd. “Thank you for helping Sarah while Daddy is away.”

Todd liked helping Mommy at church. He thought about all the bread he took.

“I’m sorry I took a lot of bread. Why do we only get one piece?” he asked.

Mommy hugged Todd. “We don’t take the bread because we are hungry. We take the bread to remember Jesus. And we take just one piece so that everyone can have a piece to remember Jesus.”

Todd tried extra hard to be reverent during church the next week. He took just one piece of bread. He was happy he could remember Jesus. He wanted to help others remember Jesus too.

Illustrations by Kevin Fales