Giving to the Giver God!

The squirrel above is resident in our garden and is a regular morning visitor to the feeding station in our garden. It was while watching this on one morning, the saying of Jesus in the Lord's Prayer, 'Give us this day, our daily bread' engaged me to ponder over this prayer of provision. 

Jesus of Nazareth had a mixed childhood experiences. Jesus was born in a place other than His own home; He was born when His parents were on a journey; He had to be carried to safety by being taken to Egypt on account of Herod seeking to harm Him; His early childhood was lived in a strange environment till His parents returned to Nazareth. That too His parents chose Nazareth to stay hidden when threat to His life had not fully receded!

A family living in such an adverse situation for a few years, would have experienced the provision of protection and gift of existential needs each day, without having had the security of the certainty for each day! The family lived each day, protected and provided for! 

It occurs to me, that this intuitive awareness of how He and His family were provided for, made Jesus pray this prayer of invoking God to be the provider!

I noticed the aloneness of this Bulbul bird below. This cable is a perching position for a few birds almost every day. Its still and upright posture indicate to me that it has a direction laid out for it for the day.

It is referring to such birds, Jesus of Nazareth spoke in His sermon on the Mount: 'Look at the  birds of the air, they do not sow neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds the..'(Matt6:26).

I happened to park the car in a congested street yesterday, with continuous flow of traffic on both directions as no other place was available along a stretch of about half a kilometre. When I had to take out the car, the access was blocked and the flow of traffic made it difficult to reverse into the road. I waited for ten minutes wondering how I would find  the space to take out the car. An auto driver seeing my predicament, offered to move his vehicle to allow me some moving space. As soon I got out, another car occupied the space denying the parking space for the auto driver. I felt disturbed by this and reached out to thank the auto driver and apologised to him for the inconvenience it caused him while helping me. What surprised me was his words: 'Yes, I lost the space, there night a better space somewhere in the street' ! 

The prayer, 'give us our daily bread' is a prayer of the heart, which most of us pray silently in our heart in all situations of need or demand. Because of what Jesus said, that 'your Heavenly Father knows that  you need all these things' (Matt 6:32), there is an assurance of hope in all situations. 

I took time to revisit the state of my mind, during the fifteen minutes I felt stranded in not being able to move the car. What became as a comfort was the polite and thoughtful response of the auto driver. That brought another dimension to the prayer of Jesus, 'give us our daily bread'. God meets our needs through others. God sends 'neighbours' whose loving gesture becomes the provision for our needs. 

This episode brought an awareness about a popular saying, 'God meets the needs of others, through us'!

On days, if Anna or I  forgot to leave food in the feeding station, the birds hover around the place chirping and calling our attention. The two Bulbuls below kept calling for our attention as there was no food left in the food basin. 

The wise men who came to meet Jesus with gifts, returned another way, having been told in a dream to do so, as Herod was waiting to harm Jesus. God protected the child Jesus, by guiding the wise men to avoid meeting Herod on their return journey. They were instructed by Herod to return and inform him of the place where Jesus was born. The wise men aligned with the voice of their dream, almost defying the king to whom they were obliged to !

The protective role of the wise men offered safety to Jesus, giving the family time to move to Egypt!

The convergence of the heavenly voices and the response of people around Jesus, provided Him the safety He needed. God provides through people who hear the voice to respond!

The childhood of Jesus was an experience of being provided for by the confluence of God's provisions through multiple people!

The prayer, Give us our daily bread, is a prayer which undergirds the centrality of human response to make it happen!

This prayer is an inclusive prayer, in which all followers of Jesus are called to participate to 'love our neighbours as ourselves'!

I remember visiting Dr Ajit and Alice Bhat in their home a few years ago. During the conversation I enquired of them how they decided to make a large contribution to build the Alumni guest house at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. In fact, it was their initiative and interest that made the guest house a reality, when CMCV had no such facility for guests.  

What they shared was a fascinating aspect of history. Rev A.C.Oommen who was the chaplain at CMCV was a student friendly chaplain who led retreats, Bible studies and fellowship meetings for students through the Student Christian Movement. Rev Oommen kept involved in the lives of students even after they left the college. Ajit and Alice shared happy memories of association with Rev Oommen. The other person of considerable influence in their lives during their formative years was Dr P. Zachariah, the professor of physiology. He formulated the Alumni association and made the alumni to meet batch wise at CMCV eery year. The diaspora of CMC alumni fascinated Dr Zachariah. He saw them as witnesses to the motto of the institution, 'not to be mentored unto but o minister'! He felt called to undergird their vocation by linking them with life and events in CMCV. Drs Ajit and Alice were inspired by this friendship that Dr Zachariah fostered among the alumni. It was because of the inspirational influences of two people in their lives, Drs Ajit and Alice wanted to reciprocate with a large gift to build the alumni guest house. 

This is the continuation of the Christmas experience of 'giving to the Giver God' !

Let me offer the flower below from our garden to the many who blessed Anna and me by their example  of  'giving' thereby leavening our lives with graceful and thoughtful acts of kindness!

 M.C.Mathew( text and photo)