2018:2 - Bounty

A table of bounty had been set before us ... chicken, Egyptian mulukhiya, kofta, dolmas, cucumber and lettuce salad, fresh bread. That's what happens when you travel to an Egyptian home for a meal. Every specialty of the house is placed before you. Not eating is considered an insult and so you taste ... everything. It is not a burden because the food is delicious.

Sunday we were invited to Amir's home for the midday meal. Amir was a student in past years and will visit America with another seminarian in July and August. He lives about 45 minutes from seminary by taxi, subway and foot, and so we made our way.

We sat with Amir's tiny mother in her ornate, air conditioned sitting room in an ancient structure built by previous generations of family. The flat-screen TV was on the wall and her son and grandsons attended to their various smart phones from time to time throughout the afternoon.

Through those gathered, she told us about her 73 years of life. She showed us a wedding picture from the mid-60s. She told us about her youth in Upper Egypt and then her early years of marriage in Cairo when she would go to a nearby source to carry water from the common spigot for the family's needs.

As I listened, I thought about the changes that this woman and others of her generation in Egypt, have seen in the course of their lifetimes. From animal transport and no electricity or water in homes to all of the modern conveniences of life today. In the course of her lifetime, she has experienced changes that spanned multiple generations in my family.

Faced with all that she has seen and the pace of change that she has witnessed, she could be bitter or simply tired. Instead, she sat with a smile on her face and warmth emanating from her being. "It is a blessing for me that you have come to my home. You are welcome anytime."

I'm certain that THIS is what being received by God's love looks like. I only hope to provide her son with such a reception when he travels to our home later this summer.