Ants In The Sugar Bowl

This is a poem by Elizabeth Givens that was given out when I attended mission training in April/May 2008. I understood it pretty well before coming to the mission field, but now I understand it so much better.

Ants In The Sugar Bowl

So send I you:

To ants in the sugar bowl

To things that fly, creep, and crawl into the house

To uncertain water, sporadic electricity

To long hours, sweltering heat, exhausting days

To uncomfortable vehicles, crowded jeeps, smelly buses

To noisy early, EARLY mornings

To rice, rice, and more rice

To poverty you didn’t believe existed

To masses of people like you have never seen

To know and work with people who have never known comfort

So send I you

So send I you:

To people who will give to you from their poverty

To friends that will embarrass you with their generosity

To pastors that will entertain you from their lack, with bounty

To hungry, receptive, questioning people who want to know God

To study, to teach, to learn from your study and teaching

To probe your own motives, values, and beliefs

To learn about yourself and the culture that has reared you

To know God and to understand more deeply dependence on Him

So send I you.

Are you going? I’ll go with you all the way.

Elizabeth Givens