As a dietitian, I often wonder what I am eating, what it was cooked with, and if it is sanitary/safe to eat, or how it was prepared. But somehow, I can’t help but look past all of that and see something more. Almost every day we are fed lunch by the pastor/a at the church that we are visiting/ministering at for the day. The meal usually consists of rice, chicken or fish, and some other questionable stuff by my American standards. But I can’t help but notice how these people continue to serve us with gladness and great big smiles on their faces.
Everywhere I have been we have always be served first and served the best of what they have to offer. They encourage us to eat more (by putting more on our plates) and allow us to eat as much as we want. They refuse to eat at the table with us and usually stand by in another room to either bring out more, clear our plates, or wait patiently to see if we need anything else. After we are finished eating, then they will come to the table to eat or take the leftovers somewhere else and they will eat their meal. Their lunch is our leftovers. They completely amaze me by their selflessness and how they serve us (others) above themselves. I feel so bad knowing that the food they lay on the table before us may be all that they have, but at the same time if I refuse to eat than I am hurting their feelings and offending them.
Every time you walk into a room they get a chair for you to sit in or give up their own chair so that you will have a seat. They want to make you as comfortable as possible. These people have such a servant’s heart. They give us whatever we need and always put their guests/visitors first.
Psalm 119:36 – Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
What would it be like if I adopted their custom? What would it look like if I gave up all of my selfish ways and literally put others first in every aspect of my life even if it meant going hungry or without. How would putting others first make a difference in the world?
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves
not looking to your own interests
but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4
Something interesting to note:
*If they serve you a “native” chicken that means it was the chicken you saw in the yard when you arrived that morning.
*The way they cook fish is: catch it, place it on the fire, serve it. They never cut off the heads or tail or de-bone it. The head’s the best part 🙂 . . . so they say!
