Priceless Gifts the Poor Give Us

I recently started a new volunteer gig as a nutrition solutions educator and companion for those who are poor, elderly, socially isolated and have chronic diseases through an aging institute in our area. I have a passion for nutrition as a pathway to wellness and so it seemed like a good opportunity.

It was supposed to be a secular volunteer role focused on nutrition education and wellness, as well as helping to provide support with loneliness, but like many things in my life, God makes the secular sacred and weaves unexpected opportunities into it.

I was paired with a sweet lady who is homebound and dealing with immobility and severe pain over the holidays. Two days before Christmas when we spoke, there was this prayerful, hopeful presence about her that struck me -- in spite of a really horrific situation where she never married, has no one left alive to care for her, and is virtually alone without any resources.

Throughout the conversation, it became clear that she was Christian. She told me that she prays and believes in the promises of God. Referencing various miracle stories in the Bible, these gave her hope that God was looking out for her, that He’d send her someone to care for her, a companion, and a means of delivering her from pain -- just like He had for others. Her faith was sustaining her.

Then, towards the end of the conversation she said something surprising: “Next time we talk, I want to hear your story.” 

My story? I thought to myself. This service is for you not me, and yet you want to hear my story. I haven’t met many who care enough to ask that question, and yet, you see a story in me.

Every time I meet one of the poor, and I mean really meet and encounter them and not just give them things, I am always amazed at what they offer from their nothing. I’m always struck by how the experience in some way meets one of my needs -- even when it was never intended to. I am always baffled at how they think of someone else in the midst of poverty. 

I always learn something profound from my interactions with them because there is a wisdom that is only gained through encountering and companioning poverty. I think the story of the manger in Bethlehem brings to life that truth.

Thank you, new and unexpected friend, for the Christmas gifts I never asked for: an inspiration of faith in God’s promises and a listener of my story. And how fitting that it was from a poor, sick and lowly woman -- the exact type of person Jesus came to heal sand save when He was born.