Sharing of the Little We Have

In yesterday and today's first readings, 1 Kings 17: 1-6 and 1 Kings 17: 7-16, we read and reflect upon the ways in which God cared for his prophet Elijah during a famine in his land.  In yesterday's reading, God directs Elijah to inform King Ahab that, at his word, there will be no dew or rain in the country for "these years."  And then the Lord directs Elijah to leave the area, saying to him: "Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there."  The brook where Elijah was hiding ran dry,  so the Lord directed Elijah to move on to "Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you."   The widow he encounters is collecting sticks to make a last meager meal for herself and her son, as she only has a small amount of flour and oil. Following this meal, she and her son planned to wait to die. Elijah asked not only for a drink of water but also for a bit of bread and promised her that the "jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth."  She shares the meager means she has and, sure enough, the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

God took care of His/Her prophets and also takes care of you and me, of all of His/Her children.  What amazes me is the faith of Elijah and of the widow. Elijah has neither food nor water to drink and his Creator and Caregiver provides both, using both animals and a fellow human being to provide for Elijah's need. The faith of the widow is also incredible. She and her son are facing death and only have enough flour and oil to make a meager meal for themselves, much less for Elijah. Yet, she shares with the prophet, who guarantees her that her flour and her oil will not run out "until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth." And she had enough supplies for a whole year!

No matter how little we have, when we share of that little, we always have enough for ourselves!  We may think we have no energy to do one more thing and we do that one more thing and we have energy galore!  We may think we have nothing to give another person and find out that the little we give--our time, our love, our support, a smile, a greeting--is more than enough! Our willingness to give of the little we have may be all a person needs to bear the burden of  loneliness, the heaviness of depression or the  weight of acute grief.