Learning to receive

29/05/2008

BMS mission worker Joan Woodyer gives food for thought about the principle of giving.

She writes:

I have recently returned from the BMS Africa Retreat where we talked about ‘partnership’ in terms of mission and working alongside churches in other countries.

We learnt that one of the ways in which it is sustained is by the demonstration of “practical love and consideration and active thought for each other”.

The day I arrived back in Mbanza Kongo my food cupboard wasn’t exactly bare but it didn’t have much in it either. I didn’t have the energy to walk to the market so had decided that it would have to be porridge for tea.

Whilst at the retreat I’d probably consumed my total body weight in food so there was no likelihood that one lighter meal was going to cause me to fade away to nothing.

However later that afternoon a neighbour arrived at my door with a gift of a chicken (already dead, plucked and ready for cooking – just how I like them) and some bread.

He said to me, “You’ve been away and won’t have anything in the house to eat, so I’ve brought you these”.

Now that’s what I call a demonstration of practical love!

As much as I really like roast chicken, the gift was hard to accept because I know that this man doesn’t have much, certainly a lot less than I do. He would never buy this for himself but he knew I liked it and he wanted to welcome me back.

So often I fall into the trap of believing that I always need to be the one who gives, but if I am going to work in partnership then I also have to learn how to receive and to do it without feeling guilty. Easy to say but hard to do – I continue to work at it!

From Joan Woodyer, BMS nurse in Angola

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