It's not about me.

It’s cool how God can teach us things through circumstances in our life, when we aren’t expecting it. Those are my favorite.

I got to help at the monthly feeding program for the elderly at GSF yesterday. They have a weekly feeding program for mothers and their babies, and one every month for the elderly in the surrounding villages. I wasn’t expecting to get to do a lot, but I was handed a cup and told to scoop two cups full of the sugar that was in front of me, and pour it into each person’s bag. Not difficult, right? Well, this was one of those times when God wanted to teach me something and I was not prepared.

I was on my knees scooping the sugar, and the first person who passed through was a little old woman who looked like she could barely walk. They scooped her beans, and then it was my turn. She looked at me after I scooped her sugar and she said thank you, thank you and took my hand. I said your welcome (in my probably heavy accented and broken Luganda) and I had tears in my eyes when I looked at her. It was the same with every person after that. Thank you, thank you. Your welcome. Tears.

Each of these people walked (which isn’t a short distance, especially when your 70 years old), all the way to GSF for some beans, sugar, salt, posho flour, soap, and matches. Compared to my family’s shopping cart back home during the week, it was nothing. I wanted to keep scooping, to give them each more and more, but I knew everyone needed it and there wouldn’t be enough. Each time they said thank you, I wanted to say, “Don’t thank me, I’m just scooping sugar. I am no one important.” But I just said your welcome, and they continued to thank me, and thank me some more.

Now I know it is cliché to some people to learn gratefulness on a mission trip. I use to think, “Duh, of course you’re going to learn gratefulness. America=abundance. A lot of the world=not enough to live on.” And I saw that lesson as a cliché lesson too. But I think we forget sometimes how crucial that lesson is for each of our lives. I am blessed in the situation that I grew up in and that I now live in. I have everything I need, and I take it for granted. I tend to look at my being blessed, and think to myself, “What a great life. I did good.” But when did I ever do anything that caused me to be blessed? I didn’t. That’s the answer. God did.

I will always wonder why God put certain people in difficult living situations, and why I am in such a good one. But what I never want to forget or not realize is that every good thing I have or will ever have, and every good thing I do or will ever do, comes from God. I can do nothing, I can be nothing, I can have nothing without Him.

That’s the unexpected lesson that I learned through scooping sugar. I tried to show a little love, just by scooping sugar, and the little old woman was more than grateful. God shows us his love 100 times more than just a scoop- He pours out His love on us, like pouring the entire bag of sugar, and we walk away thinking, “What a good job I am doing in this life.”

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. This life is not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not about any of us. It is about Jesus, and coming to Him as our broken, real selves, and being made new everyday.

John 15:4-5

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit bu itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."