Sharing is caring is a phrase we’ve all heard before. We’ve probably all said it before when the person you’re with has some M & M’s and you’ve been craving chocolate all day.
I will never be able to hear this phrase in the same way because of my time at Asha Nepal.
On our first day here, our ministry contact Bhuvan shared with us that in Nepali culture food is very important. Most importantly, sharing it. He said that if you eat something and don’t offer to share it with the people around you, they will think you don’t love them. Oppositely, sharing your food shows them that you do love them.
I sat there that morning almost not believing him. I started thinking how crazy it would be that an entire culture could communicate so much with food. Then I started thinking about how I much I dislike sharing food. I am a food hoarder to the core. I will let people have a bite of something if they ask, but it’s very reluctantly and a little upset that I have that bite less to eat. Now asking people if they want some of my food, that just plain ol’ doesn’t happen.
I think it’s hilarious that God placed a girl who has struggled with making food an idol her entire life in a culture and home where sharing food is love. I knew instantly that God wanted to stretch me and grow me in a deep way.
Luke 3:11 And He answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise”
So as I’ve been here for two weeks and seen how it all works, I have seen the beauty of sharing and how much love is shown through it.
The moment that sticks out the most for me is when one of the older teenage boys, Aajay, came back from hanging out with friends was eating a Kit Kat Bar. To me, that’s normal and I would have been perfectly fine had he eaten the entire thing without offering any to the rest of us. But he’s Nepali, he hasn’t grown up in my same, self-gratifying, food hoarding ways. First, he holds it up to me and offers me a bite. Of course, I accept. I thank him and carry on with hanging out with everyone after dinner.
A few minutes pass and I see a group hovered in the corner of the balcony and all are skipping away happy with something in their hands. I began to process what had happened. Aajay had offered it to me then gathered about 15 kids around and shared it with the rest of them. A Kit Kat split between 17 people does not offer very much for anyone, but that Kit Kat was not what it was about. It was about love. Aajay was telling all of us that he loves us. You could tell by the simple fact that he was able to eat drastically less of his Kit Kat than he paid for, but did so joyfully, willingly and without any sort of “Well since I have to share, I guess I’ll share” attitude. Beautiful.
And I stood there convicted.
If I had bought a Kit Kat, I would have kept it in the bag until it was safely in my room. Then I would have eaten it where I knew I would not be asked if they could have some by my teammates. Or maybe share a little if they asked but still have a majority for me.
Aren’t I the one that’s supposed to be loving these people the way Jesus does? Instead I’m being shown what it means to die to self in the area that I’ve struggled the most in my life.
That is just one example of the sharing I’ve seen. It happens multiple times a day. Anytime any sort of snack or treat is opened around me, I will hear a “Sister” and a sweet Nepali hand will hand me some of whatever they are eating. There is never any regretful attitude in it, simply joy and love.
I still have many lessons to learn about sharing. I would be lying if I say sharing my food is the greatest joy I have now. But because of God’s amazing grace, I am seeing change in my heart. I know that every time I say, “Hey, do you want some of this?” no matter my attitude, chains are being broken off of an area that I have struggled with in many ways.
Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
You may not struggle with sharing food like I do, but we cannot brush over these verses of how important it is to share. May we all look for opportunites to die to ourselves and share what we have because of all that our Savior has given to us. He gave us everything, even His very life. May we carry the truth of the Gospel in our hearts the next time we have a choice to share something or keep it to ourselves.
