Love

I’d like to tell you a story about sharing that really stopped me in my tracks. Earlier this year, Mary’s Meals, the international school meals charity named after Mary the mother of Jesus, launched an emergency appeal for Ethiopia, where drought, climate change, and conflict have wreaked havoc on the landscape and many people are going hungry.

To prepare for this appeal, our Founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, traveled to the Tigray region to meet our partners and those in need.

Whilst there, he visited a school and got chatting to two 10-year-old girls in the playground. Their school had just started to receive Mary’s Meals – a daily, nutritious meal in school for every pupil. In Magnus’s words, “They told me they were only in class because of Mary’s Meals. I was heartened to see that the meals were having the desired impact. And then my heart broke when I learned that those same two girls had been sharing their school meal each day with hungry children begging at their school gate – despite their own uncertainty about whether there would be any food at home later that day.”

This is more than just sharing, isn’t it? It’s giving something that you want, that you, in fact, need for yourself, not just sparing something that you will hardly notice. No one would have criticised those girls if they had eaten that meal themselves. So, where and how do we find such deep wells of human kindness, in a society that doesn’t always prioritise this kind of sharing?

Mary’s Meals is a movement founded on little acts of love and the belief that everyone has something they can give – such as time, money, or prayers. We believe that together, these ‘little acts’ turn into something quite incredible. That’s a belief shared by the 2.4 million children who eat our life-changing meals every school day. We are constantly amazed and delighted by the lengths our supporters will go to, to help hungry children, from running marathons and bake sales to making incredibly generous monetary donations and leaving legacy gifts.

As with many virtues, practice makes perfect. So why not share something of yourself this Lent?

Prayer:

Pray for those around the world who face hunger and uncertainty, so that they may experience provision, hope and the love of Christ in their lives. Give thanks to the generosity of individuals and organisations who sacrifice their own time and resources to meet the needs of others. Ask God to inspire you to share what you have, however small, with a heart of love and selflessness.

Take a 40acts challenge today:

1. Plan to pack an extra snack or lunch that you offer to the teacher at morning drop-off for a child who may need it.
2. If you have lunch in a communal area, find someone sitting on their own and extend an invitation to them to join you on your lunch hour.
3. Organise a bake sale. Give the proceeds to a charity of your choice.