I still remember her gap-toothed smile as she placed a hand on my shoulder, forcing me to stop all motion and be in the moment with her. “Are you a pilgrim?” she asked, but in Portuguese, so all I understood was “peregrino?” When I nodded, she reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out 2 oranges. With a sparkle in her eye, she proceeded to place them in my hands before reaching in for 2 more. I shook my head vehemently, partly because I didn’t want her to believe an old custom of blessing pilgrims in order to be blessed, but also because I don’t love oranges. Yet she refused to take them back and somehow piled on the 2 extra ones into my arms. In some words I couldn’t fully understand, I think she was telling me to pass them on to others as well. Finally I assented and placed them into my pack before turning to her to say “Obrigada” as many times as I could. She cupped her hands over her heart before placing them over mine in a tender gesture. Generosity.
Last week we learned about the uber generosity of a BFA alum who is gifting our school with a bridge loan at 0% interest so that we could purchase a new dorm building 6 months earlier than we thought we would. It’s an amount of generosity at a level I can only dream of, but it’s also no more or less real than the Portuguese farmer lady because the reality is that generosity can't be measured in the worth of the gift but in motivation of the heart. Jesus pointed that out with the widow’s mite.
It was American Thanksgiving on Thursday (we have to distinguish here between American, Canadian, and German), and while it was a normal workday for me - a long one, to boot - it’s still a marker to pause and acknowledge the wealth of gifts I live in every day. I mean, my salary literally comes from the generosity of many supporters. The next day, I was privileged to be a chaperone on the English 7 field trip to see a performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. One of the major themes in that play is of course the learning of gratitude and generosity, and it was fascinating to talk to a student about that afterwards. We both walked away wondering how our hearts could be softer from the start.
So, as November comes to a close, I’m asking the Lord to do that work, both in my heart and in the hearts of my students. I desire to both be incredibly intentional with my generosity this season as well as spontaneous and free.
Oranges and Christmas Carols
