WILLING TO SHARE
Days after I had arrived in Tanganyika to begin teaching at Ashira Secondary School on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, an older lady came up to me on the streets of Moshi. Esther Melander and her husband, Lud, had been missionaries in East Africa for years and years. They had decided to retire among the people they cared for and loved. Esther took me and my housemate Mary to the market, helped us buy straw baskets and showed us how to bargain for mangoes, pawpaws, carrots, and bananas. Then she invited us home for lunch.
They had chosen a small round two-room house, just like the Africans. Here they lived simple, humble lives, filling their days with prayer for everyone they knew and loving everyone who crossed their paths.
A few days later, our headmistress took us to visit Martha, an African social worker. She lived in a simple whitewashed house of two rooms. She invited us to sit around her little table, and the three of us completely filled the room. Martha went outside to prepare lunch for us, scrambled eggs and a bottle of pop. Her family stopped by in small groups, warmly shook our hands and greeted us with their habaris” or hellos.
My life has been filled with people from many different places. But I will always remember these two because of the humbleness of their homes and their willingness to share the little bit they had while they spent their lives bringing justice and kindness to those around them.
Lord, when we are exposed to injustice, help us look to you to understand what justice is. When we are tempted to be unkind, help us to remember when someone showed us true kindness. When we are surrounded by so much, help us to share with those who have very little. Amen.
