TIA’S BLANKET

The bus bumped along the road, finally bringing Tia* back home.  It had been a grueling 10-hour journey from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape and another 10 hours back.  Traveling to her home village to attend a funeral was an unexpected expense, one she could not afford.  

It was the dead of winter – a bitterly cold time to be traveling. The icy wind and the dust seeped in through every crevice of the rickety old bus.  Tia had borrowed a travel blanket from one of her neighbors to keep her warm on the trip.  After returning home, Tia discovered that she had no detergent with which to wash her neighbor’s blanket.  It was covered in dust and dirt from the journey, and she knew it could not be returned this way.  Tia decided to hold onto the blanket until the end of the week when she would have money to buy the needed soap. 

A couple of days later, Tia’s neighbor called her and berated her for not returning the blanket.  Mortified, Tia immediately took the blanket over, only to have her neighbor throw it back at her, yelling for returning it dirty and accusing her of having no manners.  Humiliated, Tia left with the blanket.  

A few shacks down from her neighbor, a woman was outside, washing clothes in a large basin made of tin.  With tears running down her cheeks, Tia walked up to the basin and placed the blanket inside.  This stranger, washing her family’s clothes, simply moved over, and let Tia wash.  She patted Tia’s shoulder in kindness, forming a fellowship of understanding.   With her dignity in tatters, Tia was able to return the blanket to its owner, wet but clean.  

Less than a week later, Tia attended the Orchard: Africa women’s empowerment training for that month.  She sat at her assigned seat, looking forward to the time with the other women she had come to know and trust.  It was at this meeting that God reached out to Tia through a church partner in the United States.  A small gift is given to each of these women at every monthly meeting and this month the gift was a blanket.  With joy, Tia related this story to our staff.  She told of how loved she felt; how the pain of her humiliation dissipated with the knowledge that God thought her worthy of owning her very own travel blanket. 

I am broken.  There is no sense of self-sufficiency or any other form of pride possible in hearing, relating or experiencing this story.

As followers of Christ, we are taught of the last supper Jesus had with his disciples.  He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it, saying, “This is my body.”  We, his followers, are also called his body.  As his body, we too are blessed, broken, then given.   

At times, we are the blessed.  Other times, like Tia, we may be the broken.  Yet, God’s love is always given and, in this process, even the blessed are broken. 

A small gift, in the form of a blanket, can provide healing to a soul and restore dignity to us all. The body of Christ, blessed, broken and given.

May we think on these things!

* Name has been changed to protect Tia's privacy

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POSTCARD FROM AFRICA-- September 2024

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TAKE A BREATH