Dear one,
Perhaps for a variety of reasons, the word “loan” has acquired new significance for me: in the past two or three weeks, I have found myself giving thanks for the “loan” of our home and yard. Most likely this thanksgiving has been prompted by the coronavirus: culturally I (we?) have become much more keenly aware of disease and/or death, neither of which is new, and yet—even as a pastor, who routinely made hospital visits or officiated funeral services—my perspective has shifted.
Admittedly, this shift might also reflect my age. At the age of 70, I number within that demographic for whom disease and death are more prevalent; but whatever its prompting, I sense that this shift has become more closely aligned with the lives and daily realities of those I encountered in Malawi. Upon my every visit to Malawi, weekly if not with a greater frequency, invariably the host family with whom I stayed attended a funeral service. Of course, at the time of my first visits, the life expectancy for the average Malawian was 59 years, whereas our American average was 78 years. (Those numbers are now 63 and 79 years respectively.)
Regardless the cause of my shifting perspective, I find myself not only more aligned with Malawians, but in truth, with the millions upon millions whose average life expectancy is ten to fifteen years less than my own, statistical average as an American. (Haitians can expect to live 64 years; Indians 69 years; and Russians 72 years.) Moreover, this alignment fits well with most of recorded history: as some have quipped, the human mortality rate has been consistently 100%. Thus, some cultures (even our American culture of the 1860s) have lauded a “noble” death, in contrast to our present, “peaceful” death gained through sleep.
Now with these reflections, I don’t mean to be morbid; rather, with thanksgiving I recognize that “my” possessions are not really mine—they have been given to me “on loan” by the One who promised to give life and to give it in great abundance (John 10:10). Moreover, this same One indicated that we all have been given various gifts and talents, which are to be used and spent—and by our spending as He did, we will be welcomed into His Presence with joy (Matthew 25:14-30).
With thought, I believe I’m learning “to hold lightly” what has been given to me for a time: loaned to me not for the possessing but for the joy of giving to others.
Still learning,
Stan