Openness and Givenness

Learning Experiences 1

A  CHILD  SHOWS  THE  WAY..

There are some experiences which are unique. One such experience I witnessed during a recent train travel. I was sitting opposite to two families, both of whom were accompanied by their child. One of the children was not so well, probably with cold and fever. The parents engaged him with story telling and toys. I noticed that the parents were getting exhausted by attempting to keep a sick child engaged. He looked unhappy and miserable due to his cough and running nose.

The other child, belonging to the other family engaged herself in reading  and dialoguing with her parents.  She took out her crayon box and began colouring the pictures in a book.  Seeing this, the other child got down from his mother’s lap and came near her. He quietly took a crayon from the box and began scribbling in her book. His parents dissuaded him from doing this. He was upset and could not be consoled. What followed next was indeed surprising and revealing. This girl offered her colouring book and crayon box to this boy. He gladly received it and engaged himself for the rest of the journey colouring the book.  The girl returned to her reading.

I reflected on this ‘self giving’ act of this girl psycho-bilologically. Considering her age, she should have been by nature ‘possessive’ and ‘pre-occupied’ with herself. I would not have been surprised if she got upset with the boy for drawing in her book or disturbing her peace. Her age would have justified that. She did what she did on her own with no prompting from her parents. All these intensify the surprise.

‘Self-giving’ is God given instinct.  It was a girl in captivity who led Naman to the prophet Elisha, for receiving healing from leprosy (2King. 5:1-14). It was a boy who gave his five loaves and two fish when Jesus wanted to feed the five thousand people (John.6:9).It was a boy who reported to the commander of the prison about the ambush plan which the Jews had plotted to kill Paul (Acts.23:16-18). Each of these children was open to the needs of others.

Ours is an ‘acquisitive’ culture, where we want to make our ‘possessions’ secure and lasting. The market forces convince us of the need to be prudent with our ‘investments’ in safe deposits. May I suggest that investing on others is a wise use of our resources! What we invest on others usually lasts to bless generations and not just one life time. People are introduced tothis way of living and serving when we spread the culture of ‘self-giving’. Is it not by ‘loosing’ we are told that we would gain (Matt.16:25)!A child showed me the way!

                                                                                                                         M.C.Mathew.