Exercising Gratitude: 30 Days - 8

I didn't forget about this exercise.  I merely lacked the wherewithall to catch a few uninterrupted moments at the computer.  So I have many more than 30 specific entries to tabulate here...to transfer from handwriting to computer writing.  Thank you for your patience.

So, when I use the term 'today' you may need to realize that that was many days ago...and I am just now able to put it down here.

Today I am thankful for: Kaluvi's Chicken

Okay, now I am sure you are wondering who Kaluvi (said, "Kah-Loo-Vee") is and what's going on with her chicken.

I'm so glad you asked. 

Kaluvi is the woman I met in Zambia about 12 years ago.  She was the house-keeper/helper for Sam's family.  I don't know her well, or hardly at all.  What I do know is she is a local Zambian woman who lives in a village hut with various family nearby.  We would consider her poor perhaps because of different standards of living and wage-earning.  I consider her quite rich when it comes to joy and peace and all the stuff that really matters.  Like most village people in Zambia, Kaluvi had a chicken or two - they keep and raise some chickens for the occasional special event - to have some meat once in a while.  Chickens are an expense - a treat - a commodity. 

I'm talking here about Kaluvi's chicken, but these thoughts will apply to many others who generously give their best, out of their poverty, out of joy and gratitude.  It happened often to my Dad in Vietnam and China and Philippines - people who barely have enough would serve him the best thing they had - the richest most luxurious feast item - to honour him. 

When we came for a visit to Zambia, Kaluvi was so excited to meet me, the one who married Samuel, whom she had known from childhood.  She was overjoyed and overflowed with gratitude for the job she had at the Logan's as well as for the knowledge of God's love, shown to her in Christ.  She wanted to share what little she had to honour us, and she gave us her last chicken.  I remember awkwardly holding this live chicken, not sure exactly how to hold the thing.  I was a bit in shock, realizing that the only appropriate thing to do was to agree to butcher it and eat it.  And of course, the idea of eating the thing I was holding was maybe just a little unappealing and unsettling.  But we agreed to have that chicken for supper that night.  And we did.

Kaluvi teaches me something of gratitude and joy.  She demonstrated for me what we refer to as 'the widow's mite' - that story in Scripture where a poverty-stricken widow puts her last 2 pennies into the coffers as a demonstration of worship and faith.  The religious leaders perhaps scoffed at such a meager gift.  But Jesus affirmed her generosity and blessed her for her faith.  Kaluvi overflowed with generous joy.  And she shows me what I have found to be true so very often: it is the poor in this life who understand faith, who demonstrate generosity, whose hearts overflow with compassion - who give out of their emptiness, who love without restraint.  I know there are the rich who sometimes demonstrate these things too.  But I am encouraged to remember that Jesus blessed those who were poor in spirit, and meek and merciful.  Those who seem to have nothing to give inherit the earth.

So, yes, I'm grateful for Kaluvi's chicken - because it reminds me of joyful generosity, of what it means to extend grace and receive it.  It shows me what giving out of poverty looks like. 

Let's all be givers like Kaluvi - whether it's chickens, dollars, hospitality, graciousness, love, long-suffering, patience, or kindness.  Let's give when it's the last resource we have.

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