Just a Coke Can

It was just a coke on a hot summer day.  After a long day in the sun, filled with sights that made my stomach hurt, head pound, and eyes swell from crying, its taste was sweet and refreshing.  

I sat on a curb in a dirty market place, surrounded by a small group of children.  A little girl, not much older than seven, stopped to sell me something from the large platter of wares that sat atop her head.   I was shocked to see a small baby strapped to her back.  Our group was beginning a two week trip into some of the villages of northern Ghana.  We had stopped to exchange money and buy supplies for the upcoming journey.  While we were waiting, one of the Ghanaian preachers had purchased (with probably all the money he had for that week) cokes for six of us.  As I drank my coke the little girl smiled up at me with a longing expression.  I later learned that children are typically much older than they appear, but still this young girl taking care of a younger sibling and working to support her family was too much to bear.  I shared my drink with her and quickly other children surrounded her.  I was aghast as she turned to the oldest boy and compliantly handed the half full can over to him.  He then told the other children something that sounded authoritative and demanding.  I was on the verge of going for help from a local adult when the kids began doing something that was astounding.  I watched as one by one they took a sip and passed the can on to the next child.  They made two rounds of the group in this fashion, but the sharing continued as the oldest boy took out a homemade knife and cut off the top of the can.  They passed the can and shared the remaining drops, with happy smiles.  Thankful.

Once the can had been licked clean (yes, I mean they licked the inside of the can clean) the boy with the knife cut off the bottom of the can and gave the remaining aluminum to another boy in the group.  That boy took the can and hammered it out flat while the older boy fashioned the top and bottom into wheels.  They then took the now rectangle piece of aluminum and folded it into a kind of axle and attached the two wheels.  Another boy came with a long stick and attached this make-shift “car” to the stick.  This “car” was shared among the group, but I was given the distinct impression that it was meant to go home with the young girl at the end of the day.  Thankful.

Though I can vividly remember what happened that day, it is easy for me to forget this lesson on perspective.  When the transmission breaks, the blessing of a new child necessitates a bigger vehicle, salaries are reduced, or an insurance deductible needs to be met, my perspective can become skewed.  I can easily become anxious.  To make matters worse I sometimes allow Satan to fuel my anxiety with materialism.  What begins as a light drizzle of what I think are ‘needs’, can suddenly and quickly turn into a thunderstorm of greedy wants.  The feel-good thankfulness of Thanksgiving Day can become the dark cloud of Black Friday.  I can compare my lot with others and feel underprivileged.  As we read in Ecclesiastes 6:7,    “All human toil is for the mouth, yet the appetite is not satisfied.”

What this verse means to me is that I am not alone in this struggle.  From the time Adam was cursed with feeding his family by the sweat of his brow, we humans have longed for more and more.  Even though God has given us love and grace beyond measure, he still understands this struggle.  Jesus tells us, “…do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat nor about your body, what you put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing…But if God so clothes the grass…how much more will he clothe you.”  Luke chapter twelve has a lot to say about being thankful in perspective.

Jesus cares about our physical needs, even a few of our wants; but God calls us to keep our minds on the eternal.  The way we get a proper thankful perspective is by seeking His Kingdom priorities first.

As we enter into this truly Christian season of thanksgiving, let’s all be reminded that we have enough and should be thankful.  I would be surprised if even one person reading this blog were in truly deep need of food and shelter.  But even if we find ourselves one day truly hungry and in need like the little girl in the market, let us be reminded that we are still saved and be…Thankful.  

“Not what you possess but what you do with what you have, determines your true worth.”
-Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)   

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank you.  Help me to see my many blessings from your perspective.   Help me to live and to act as I should:  thankful.  Amen.

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK