I Give My Nothing

I traveled to a nearby village one weekend. This one was new to me. As I walked along we chatted with the ladies that came along the path. My friends and I were on a leisure hike for the day while the ladies around us were working hard: to wash clothes in ice cold water, to carry heavy loads of leaves and branches back to their homes for their cows to eat, and to take care of things around their homes in order to provide for their children. They barely had time to stop and chat. One woman carried her baby on one hip while balancing a huge bucket of water on her head. The mountain climb was steep for me with merely a backpack on. I can't imagine carrying water on my head and a baby on my hip. We stopped to chat with a group of ladies gathered at a small trickle of water rolling down the mountain where they had gathered to wash their clothes with the small amount of water that was flowing down and a rock.

Some days, I wish the whole world could taste and see the things I see. I wish we could all have the same worldview, and really know what it means to suffer.  As Americans, many of us have no idea what true suffering is. We think the world has come to an end when our phone runs out of battery or the Internet isn’t working. These ladies have it hard, and though I wouldn’t use the word suffering to describe their situation, they remind me I have nothing to complain about. They remind me to live a life of extravagance for the Kingdom.  What can I do? What can I give? How can I best serve them and the Father?

One lady hurriedly asked for some medicine. She had a cold and a bad toothache. We had nothing to offer, but as we talked and listened to her needs, we were able to offer her prayer. She waited, hesitated, waited some more. She was quite unsure. You could see it in her eyes, she questioned: Prayer? Here? There was no special temple, no special offering a to give in Pooja, no special clothes to be worn....but after some time she agreed.  It reminded me of JC; he went outside the norm. He healed people on the Sabbath and outside the temple He shared stories.  We didn’t need anything special to make the prayer work. We just needed faith.  We prayed and weeks later the woman reported when we went again that she was feeling better.  My prayer and hope is that she will come to have a relationship with the Healer himself.

That day in the village after we prayed the first time, she invited us back to her home for chai. She literally had nothing in her home. She offered us the one the she had which was a piece of bread. For days after I thought of her sweet spirit, welcoming us in when she didn’t feel well and offering us all she had.  I questioned do I go out of my comfort zone? Do I offer others all I have?  There is a song called, “Give my Nothing” by Shane and Shane.  I often think of that. This woman really had nothing to give, but she gave what she did have. I often have nothing of real eternal worth to give God, but I can give Him my nothing.  Some days I have more than many people will ever have in a lifetime (in a material sense), and I question what would I give when they came to my house?  Some days I think I have nothing to offer God, but I realize I can offer my nothing, and it will delight him. Whatever you have today, I challenge you to give it away to someone in need, or back to the Father.