Inward Renewal

A couple of days ago, a young man named Mark brought a gift to our front door.  He completely surprised us by wanting to gift his first banjo to a young boy – and that young boy happened to be Ian.  Mark is known in our community for spending his free time playing a guitar and writing his own songs.  Sixteen years ago, it was his dream to be a musician.  Not being able to afford a guitar, he set out to hand craft a simple banjo for himself.  All he needed were a few wires, a plank of wood, a few nails and an old oil can.  With the wire, he made bridges and strings.  With the nails, he made tuning pegs.  He carved out the plank to be the neck of the instrument.  He put a lot of effort into it this banjo so it had much meaning and value to him.

We asked if he would play a few songs; which he did. He even recorded a message to Ian for our video so that when Ian got older he’d know who gave him the banjo.  Zambians are very generous people and love to share their blessings with us.  At times, it’s hard to be recipients of such generosity.  Nevertheless, in Zambia it’s always important to honor the gift-giver by receiving the gift with open hands.  Gifts are a seal of relationship and solidarity, so we accepted it with much gratitude.

Owning a new guitar, Mark saw no reason to have two instruments; so he chose to share the excess with someone else. Us. Living in Zambia, we see this all the time – it’s just part of life here.  The community shares commodities for the betterment of others.  Rarely do Zambians store their excess.  To store excess is considered wasteful because the potential to benefit others in the now is “lost”.  Certainly there are examples whereby Zambians may have the need to store (like their maize crop yield) but even then they share generously with others and the general trend is not one of hoarding.

Living in such an environment we too have become active participants.  As westerners we find this prevailing attitude towards “things” to be a really constructive challenge to the way that we live our lives.  I can’t help but think of the words Jesus used in Mark 12:48 when he was explaining the meaning of a parable to his disciples, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”