We were down to our last bag remaining when we heard a call in the distance. We looked and saw an old man hobbling towards us as fast as he could. He was hobbling because he had one leg and one arm missing, and had a worn out crutch under his remaining arm to help him along. He wanted that bag - “Don’t forget me, I’m coming!”, he cried.
We sent our (at the time) 14-year old daughter to intercept him with the last bag. She wasn’t sure how to give it to him, but he smiled and said (in his language), “Don’t worry, just put it right here!” – pointing to the stump of shoulder where his left arm used to be. She carefully draped the bag over his shoulder, and he gave a smile like a kid on Christmas morning. It was beautiful….
Here’s the thing… this man didn’t even open the bag to see if it contained something he wanted. He had nothing so literally anything in that bag was a blessing to him. He was completely, utterly happy. And when I say he was happy, I don’t mean he was like “wow thanks for giving me my favorite candy bar” kind of happy. He was “Best. Day. Ever!” Kind of happy. He was like ‘still reminiscing with friends about this 3 years later’ kind of happy...
And you know what? It’s three years later, and I’m still reminiscing about it too…
THAT is the kind of joy God talks about when he says to help the poor, and to give is better than to receive... We are so very incredibly blessed here with both spiritual and material gifts. We MUST obey our King and share them with those around us!
We must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:35b)
#LoveMatters