But not just in the form of financial generosity, while that is great. I mean generosity in the true sense of the word. Let me break it down for you.
Generous with time.
One of our hosts described time here as “rubber.” Flexible. If you say, “let’s meet at 2pm,” that may or may not end up being 3 or 3:30. And here’s the crazy part… They don’t get mad about it! Grace abounds! No one is in a rush to get to the next place. You sit, you eat, you visit, you eat some more, and then you take about a billion +1 pictures. It goes against the grain of my “I need a schedule” mentality and I love it.
Generous with energy.
Oh, you like coffee? But not those 3-in-1 packets, right? You like real, black coffee. Let me go halfway across town and wait in line for an hour, in the heat, to get you said coffee. Oh, it was no problem at all. I just want you to enjoy it. Seriously?!?!? Since when do we do such generous acts of kindness for each other at home in the states. Yeah, paying for someone’s coffee is very nice, but let’s take it a step further. Find out their favorite coffee shop, pick them up, pay for their coffee, and ask how they are doing. Talk about intentional!
I could give you an example from just about every day I have been here where someone has been generous with their love towards me, but for the sake of time and sanity I will just tell you this one. Today, our ministry hosts took us to a volcano, and it was incredible. One of the coolest sights I have seen. After traveling for hours through the city out to the mountains and up twisting, turning, steep roads, we arrived. And what a sight it was. Check out the pics below for context. So of course I wanted to get the perfect picture, and that meant getting up close and personal to the “sulphur lake thing.” And lo and behold, the sand that looked solid was not solid at all. My chacos went a good six inches into the wet, stinky sand. When I finally pulled my feet out they were like yellow-brown bricks. NASTY and humiliating. So now what do I do? We are on top of a mountain, with no restroom(not that it would have helped). I’m just going to have to deal with it. Then, one of our sweet hosts came running over with his water bottle, washing my feet, not letting me do it. It helped slightly, but what I really needed was a huge bucket to stick my feet in. I head towards the entrance hoping there is some form of running water close by and group of Indonesian teens stop me, all holding out their full water bottles. I said I could not take it, but Indonesians don’t really take no for an answer. They shoved their water bottles at me, washing my feet, and wanted nothing in return… not even a picture! (A rarity when you’re a white person in Indo) I could not believe their generosity. If I had seen a stranger, a foreigner, fall in a puddle of mud at home, would I have offered them all of my water simply to wash it off? Nope. I don’t think so. Here I am, the dumb foreigner who stepped in the sulphur sinking sand, and the locals are being Jesus to me!
So, what am I learning? I am learning how to love, and how to love well. I am learning that true generosity means giving even if you personally need what you are giving away. It means opening your home to strangers, simply because they need it. It means asking those strangers to be IN YOUR WEDDING(if you don’t know that story, check out some of my teammates blogs). It means truly being Christ to others, even when it is inconvenient. Generosity means opening your heart and letting others in.
