Generosity

First of all, I must tell you that Alex and I have been sharing marvelously this week! Thank you for the messages of encouragement. Thank you for the accountability, since everyone and their mom now knows I have trouble playing with others.

But yes, we are extending a little more grace these days and it feels right and good.

Because we are getting along so well, we have had some truly progressive conversations about the future. In addition, we have begun to reflect on our time in Spain. Our time in Spain is drawing to a close. This is our last weekend in Madrid! Leaving will be bittersweet.

Our conversation yesterday turned into a discussion on generosity. Alex and I agreed that one of the most positive experiences of our trip abroand has been people’s generosity. It is something that we have felt and have valued.

We have experienced the generosity of our professors at Babylon Idiomas. These men and women routinely bend over backwards to answer our questions in broken Spanish. They help us book buses and trains and Flamenco shows because they want to spare us the tourist prices. They converse with us in that same broken Spanish over tapas after work hours. We wonder, how will we repay them for this kindness?

We have experienced the generosity of our classmates. Our Chinese friends have showered us with delicious food and friendly smiles. They have opened up their homes and lives to us, whether it is trying noodles with Lan, or playing basketball with Leo and Fabio. Our Happy Miercoles group gives us hints about the city and helps us with our Spanish. They laugh at our weird American jokes and accept our limited worldview.

We have experienced the generosity of friends at the Nazarene church here. They, too, have opened up their lives to us. They have taken great care to shower us with hospitality and love. Heck, they took us to the best place in Spain! Toledo! We have experienced the gracious gifts of hospitality and conversation from our friends in Morocco. So life-giving.

Our cup is overflowing.

And we have invited about twenty people to our house in the United States because the hospitality is so contagious!

(A house that does not currently exist… be warned Schengels and Hays and Butlers!)

Here is a perfect example: We are invited to a dinner with friends, and we plan to take a Metro and navigate to the proper address on our own accord. We don’t expect our friends to meet us at the Metro station, even if it’s totally out of the way, and escort us to their home. But they do. And without a blink.

Another example: A friend buys a snack to eat during class. I expect that she will act like me; she will eat a few pieces and take the rest home for herself. I don’t expect her to share every last morsel of dark chocolate with friends and strangers in our school. She doesn’t know me, she doesn’t know them, but she gives everything away!

Is it possible that Alex and I are more sensitive to social situations because we originally planned to keep people here at arms length? Maybe we are keenly aware of this generosity because we are living in a totally different context with no expectations of people? Or maybe I am expecting people to act like I would act, and God is revealing new ways to live and share?

Whatever the reason, whether real or imagined, we leave Spain with a profound sense of gratitude to our hosts, both españoles and foreigners. We vow to pay it forward.

Basketball with our Chinese amigos!

More basketball!

What I did during the game...

With this in hand! Thanks for the ice cream, Fabio!

Tea with the Woos