The Widow's Chocolate

A few days ago I had the privilege of visiting an elderly lady in a nursing home. I came there to thank her for her generosity toward many missionaries. The nurse who showed me to where she was seated said "she won't understand anything, but if you want to talk with her, that's fine."

I wheeled her into her small and sat down on her only chair. I thanked her for her giving. She surprised me by not only being lucid, but quite aware and engaged. She understood why I was there and was so thankful for the visit.

As I readied to go, she pointed to the one small table in her room. On it were two chocolate bars. She invited me to take one of them. I wanted to refuse, and at first resisted. I mean come on, she made a substantial gift a few years ago that obviously liquidated much or most of her assets, and here she is in these sparse surroundings, and she wants to give me such a rare treat? But then I thought of it from her perspective - that she really lives and believes that it is more blessed to give than to receive. S0 I accepted.

I told my self at first I would keep that chocolate bar on my desk as a reminder of her generosity. But truthfully, about a day or two later I ate it. I mean it is a great story, and hopefully a decent blog post, but chocolate was made to be eaten and enjoyed, right? I won't forget her...