As the door slammed, I froze, seeing my keys locked inside our Volvo. Which was built like a tank. Safe. Secure. Very hard to unlock, because the mechanism was a sliding bolt down near the handle. And I was standing, stunned, in a French parking lot near Avignon with two teenage visitors whom I hardly knew. We were planning to stay the night, then head back to Germany the next day.
As I tried the doors and talked with the girls about what this meant, several people offered advice (in French, of course). They bemoaned the fact that I was driving a Volvo: “If it were a Citroen or a Renault, we could help.”
Getting more desperate, I noticed a threadbare man step toward me. “May I try?” he said in German. “I used to work in a Mercedes factory.” I nodded, and he pulled something metal out of his bag, ran it over the window and pulled down. I was sure he would splinter the glass, but he didn’t. In ten minutes, he had the door open.
So relieved, I could barely think. I looked at him and blurted out my thanks, then said, “What can I give you?” Anything felt like the right answer.
“Haben Sie das Geld?” Did I have money? Yes, enough francs to get us back home. Hardly knowing how much it was, I opened my purse and gave him all that I had. “Danke” he whispered, and melted into the crowd.
At that moment, it felt like the widow’s mite.* Oddly, that’s what we usually focus on. However, the gospel reading for this week begins with a clear criticism of those who could give, but don’t. Most of the time, I find myself there, thinking I should save my time or money or energy for whatever the future holds, rather than what can I give.
How to thread our way toward generosity, pulled between fear and love, is a lifelong journey — that could ultimately save our planet. I hope you will join me this week for daily reflections from John Philip Newell’s Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul for some Celtic wisdom on that pilgrimage.
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, Editor of InwardOutward.org
Questions:
- What role does money play in your life today?
- Where do you give your time, talent or money with real joy?
- How does your faith support or deflect generosity?
