Lesson from Egusi Soup

Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday...

More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children.
Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency...

http://cozay.com/

Such headlines did not move me. Even if I did give to causes to help save poverty, it was most likely because I had something to give away, not out of love and compassion. It is hard to be empathetic, especially when you are not the one wearing the shoes.

One weekend, I prepared fresh, delicious egusi soup (melon soup). I had 3-days old egusi soup in my fridge but I was not about to “contaminate” the fresh soup so I decided to pour the old one away. Just when I was about to throw it into the dustbin, a long buried scene surfaced in my memory.

It was Friday evening. There were little remains of the 6-day egusi soup, which I kept for myself and my mother who would be returning late from work that Friday. When she got home and asked for soup, I realized that the soup was too small for both of us to share. I poured water to increase the quantity. It became too watery. So I decided to add garri to the soup to give it weight. In my naivety, I did not know that the garri will coagulate in the hot soup. By the time I was to serve the soup, it was no longer soup. It was hard garri coloured with egusi and leaves. Garri-Egusi cake – in summary.

It was not edible. Mother and I went to bed hungry that night, looking forward to Saturday when we will have the next meal…

I stood by my cooker and wept. I looked at the soup I was about to throw away. If only mother and I had seen something like that then, we would not have gone to bed hungry. I wept as I realized how easily I forgot where I was coming from. I realized how wasteful I had become. I realized that there are indeed hungry people in our world. I realized that I (or any of my family) could have been part of the statistics if not for the love of God. Suddenly, my heart feels compassion for those in need.

Beloved, nothing is a waste, especially food. What you do not want, someone else will need.

Do take out time to find out whose life you can make a difference in with your food, money, clothes, or whatever you have, no matter how little. There are ministries, foundations, NGOs where you can sow into. As as you sow, may you reap a thousand fold and lack no good thing, in Jesus name, Amen.

Do not despise the days of your small beginnings [Zechariah 4:10]. And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase [Job 8:7].
Have a blessed weekend ahead.

Please join me in celebrating 16 years in memorial…