Dec 29th, 2020: New Year's Wishes - Our Daily Food
Getting packages of food together for a local food bank at this time of the year always reminds me that we are just fortunate to be where we are. Many folks have come to the food bank for help because their lives have gone out of control. Some of them they cannot foresee. The economy in our province was already in trouble before Covid-19. We have been suffering from different political policies.
Many years ago, we organized a drive for our local food bank with some university students with a citywide permit. Our assignment was in a low-income community. We had no idea what to expect. We got my answer at house number 4. The couple was so happy to see us. They practically cleaned up their pantry to donate to our cause. The man told us that he went to the same food bank two years before that for help. He cried as he told us how that helped him, his wife, and his two children during that time. Most of the students who came with me could not control their emotions either. This couple was not wealthy, but their understanding of grace was beyond any measure of wealth.
Many people who got help today will be able to help others when they recover from this nightmare. It is exciting to realize that giving to others will defy any political agenda. It is an act of kindness that comes from our acknowledgment of one another as God's gift.
Grace will grow. So is mercy. They are not complicated theological ideas. Yet, it demands tremendous commitment to carry them out. I am hopeful because I see what some people gave today. Nothing can be more meaningful than when a 6-year-old boy gave the money he got from his grandmother for Christmas to the food bank. His understanding of grace is simple and yet profound. I am personally humbled. God is good.
So please make one more donation to your local food bank. By the way, no one from the food bank has asked me to do this.
Proverbs 11:25
"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."