SUDDENLY SOUTHERN
March 28, 06
What's In Your Basket?
Recently there was an article in the weekly paper from my old hometown in Minnesota about a friend of mine who spent 10 days in Honduras on a mission trip. She went as a nurse, along with several other nurses and a few doctors, to a village that her church has been helping over the past several years. This particular mission was to administer some vaccines and train some of the residents to administer minor preventive health care, such as breathing treatments, blood sugar tests, and blood pressure readings.
After I read the article, it would keep coming back to my mind. Her story started some thoughts stirring in my heart that keep coming back to me, telling me there's a lesson for me in their words.
When she first arrived, and saw the abject poverty of the people in this village- their shacks, the filth, the smell, the dirt floors, the bugs, the rampant disease, so many children and so few of them with shoes- the impact was overwhelming. She was almost immediately overcome with a sense of despair. HOW could they ever do enough to really help these people? They were just a few doctors and some nurses, with so few supplies in comparison to a need that was so great. But, she said, remembering one of Jesus's miracles was the key. Yes, she and her group were just a few in number, but God can take a few fish and a few loaves and feed thousands!
How many times do I let obstacles stop me from helping someone? Do I sometimes consider lending aid when it's needed, but then get too easily dismayed by the size of the task? Do I ever think that my little contribution won't change much in the big picture, and then give up too easily? Or give too little? From now on, I'll think of my friend. She figured it out. She wasn't there to fix everything that was wrong for these people- she was there to open the baskets of fish and bread, and then see what God would do with them. The baskets have to be opened so God can multiply the gifts.
Marilyn talked about the faith of the local people. In their minds, though they are so poor, they are blessed, and taken care of by the Lord. At church service, the congregation wanted to hear from their American visitors. "We know that the Lord doesn't only love the people of Santa Cruz ," the pastor said. "We would like to hear how the Lord blesses you."
I was taken aback by that after I let it sink in. Would you ever expect to hear a statement like that while you're an American visiting Honduras ? Or any other place in the world where a mission worker might be? We live in a country overflowing with so many blessings for most of us, and where so many of us take it all for granted, and want more, more, more. When we reach out to help someone else, do we do it with sincere intentions, or is there a little guilt at work inside us, pestering us into giving something back to help the less fortunate? How humbling to think about a heart so deeply and truly grateful for God's care. Clearly, he doesn't consider himself any worse off in the blessings category than the Americans there to help. He didn't begrudge the difference between his country and ours. He might be wise enough to feel like the lucky one. After all, his gratitude is so clear and so simple that there isn't much space between his heart and his faith. He hasn't filled that space up with wanting, he only feels blessed with what he has.
I can't help but wonder, if that pastor had been talking to me, how would I have answered him? What could I say to those people about how the Lord blesses me? Would I have to mentally sort my blessings list, so as not to sound embarrassingly superficial or materialistic? I think I might a little bit. And, I think I should be wondering if those things I decided not to mention... ever belonged on my list in the first place. No doubt, they do. They are all still blessings. But, I certainly could be putting them to better use. I should be opening that basket and taking out the first loaf and that first fish... so that God can use me to do the rest of His work.
"We would like to hear how the Lord blesses you." What's in your basket?
