Rose Mary

Give, and it will be given to you
– Luke 6:38

It was 8 am on Monday morning and Marita was negotiating three tasks simultaneously. Two tiffin boxes had to be filled for the children, breakfast had to be served and she had to get ready for work. To top it all, her aunt had just rung in for what sounded like a lengthy conversation. Balancing the cellphone between her ear and shoulder Marita understood that she was unwell and that she needed help. There was no time right then to listen to the details so she mumbled an excuse, disconnected and rushed off to work after seeing the children off.

On her way back she remembered the aborted conversation with her aunt. In spite of the pending household chores that awaited her Marita decided to look her aunt up for a few minutes. She finally returned home two hours later. The lady was in a sorry state. Marita gave her a warm bath, cooked a simple meal and left her feeling much better than before. Needless to say, Marita had to work doubly hard to finish her own tasks at home but she felt an undeniable lightness and a great sense of satisfaction at what she had accomplished at her aunt’s place.

For most adults of the present generation, the feeling of being time constrained is a growing phenomenon. With both parents at work and children with demanding schedules at school, it isn’t easy to cope with the essential tasks of the day. A natural outcome of this is that people have stopped spending any time for others. Psychologists term this perceived time crunch as ‘time famine.’ It leaves people stressed and nervy, requiring regular vacations which take them away from their routines. In essence, it keeps people preoccupied with the work pile-up in their small world with little inclination to stretch a helping hand.

Strangely enough, the way out of this knotty experience of time famine is another concept known as ‘time affluence.’ This is what people experience when, like Marita, they spend time on others despite their own crowded schedules. They are left with the feeling that their time has been well spent and the euphoria that emanates from the experience greatly reduces the stress of tackling their own chores.

Whether it is time or talent or even money, the whole idea of sharing these with others is undoubtedly a spiritual discipline in the same category as prayer and fasting. The idea reverberates throughout the gospels where Jesus builds on this important aspect of being truly Christian. To the person who asked Jesus how he could gain eternal life, the answer was blunt and uncompromising— he was told to sell all his belongings and give it to the poor. The story goes that man left with a heavy heart as he was rich and could not fulfil this difficult condition. Zacchaeus’ reconciliation with the Lord happened when he was agreeable to give back fourfold of what he had unlawfully taken from others. Jesus described the poor widow’s contribution of two copper coins as much more significant than all the other larger sums of money because she put in ‘all she owned.’

Whether it is time or talent or material possessions, most of us feel a sense of total ownership on whatever we have and a tendency to expend all of these within the confines of our tiny family units. In fact, we build up so many commitments within this small space that it creates an artificial ‘famine’ and we have really nothing left for the ‘neighbor’ our Lord describes in the parable of the good Samaritan.

In no uncertain terms, the Bible speaks of giving as a Christian value that cannot be compromised under any circumstances. Jesus speaks of the rewards of giving in Luke 6 where He warns people that they will receive heavenly blessings with the same measure that they have given to others. He encourages people to be generous-hearted, give without expecting return and without any publicity. As in the biblical story of five loaves and two fishes which could feed 5000 people and have 12 baskets left over, we should also be able to give without fearing that our resources will run out. Instead they will increase manifold.

All of us are prone to experience ‘famine’ conditions when we cling on to our resources of time, talent and money. None of these will ever be enough for us to carry out the grand plans we have for ourselves and our future. If, instead, we have the guts to share the gifts God has given us with those in need, we will experience a new kind of ‘affluence’ that comes from the promise of the Lord’s abundant blessings. His recompense will be ‘pressed down, shaken together, and running over.’