Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Most people don't acknowledge their birthdays here, maybe because there's no money for gifts or special meals. I visit with a dear, lonely old lady who lives near my workplace. Almost all of her family members and friends have passed on and she is ready to go too. I visit with her, ask her about her life and try to make her laugh. Last time I went to her apartment she told me she had just celebrated her 85th birthday - and had had a birthday party for the first time in her life! Never too late... This week we took out some friends to this lovely lunch place where you eat in the garden. They had both been too preoccupied with funerals to celebrate their birthdays, and they were so happy to have the chance! It's a popular hang-out for people from the embassies, and as we were walking out, we ran into one of their friends, "oh, you are big people now - walking out of a place like that!"

I'm reading Miroslav Volf's book "Free of charge." He's my favourite theologian. OK, he's probably the only theologian I read... :) His book is all about giving and forgiving. I'm finished the giving section, which is full of basic and yet profound thoughts - God is a Giver by nature and everything we have and are is from God - our breath, our lives, our children, our food, our health, etc. God loves to bless us and give to us and see us enjoy the blessings. Volf argues that we can't really give anything to God because everything is from God in the first place. But we can be channels of blessing. We can enjoy blessings and then pass them on. He quoted Genesis 12:1-3 where God blessed Abraham so that he can be a blessing to others. It reminds me of a quote I had in my locker at school for years - the more love you give away, the more you'll have. I've spent hours and weeks and months wondering about the inequities in the world; wondering why obesity reigns in certain countries while starvation does in others; wondering why God seems to bless some people so much more than others. The only answers I've come up with are: a) inexplicable grace and b) we are all supposed to share and be channels of blessing. I have been loved every single day of my life. I am thankful for this, and wish everyone has had this experience. I could either feel guilty about this or else enjoy this love and share it with others. The latter is much more enjoyable; trust me. I thought I was close to being poor growing up, but I really wasn't and the older I get the more privileged I realize I have been. So, I can be a channel of blessing (even with my current pathetic salary!) So can you.