I love that my husband doesn’t argue with me when I ask for things. This morning, while I was sipping coffee and correcting Tera’s math, he slipped me a folded sheet of paper. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

In the span of time that it took for me to reach for and take and open that slip of paper, the six-year old girl in me elbowed her way to the forefront. I felt a little bit Christmas morning and a little bit August 5th, all blended up. I felt shivery like I used to when someone handed me a box wrapped up in cartoonish, primary colored paper.

A lantern … Dave had bought a kerosene lantern. “It will go to a missionary,” he explained.

“It’s perfect,” I told him. And it feels perfect. How absolutely appropriate. Somewhere across the ocean, someone sent by God to share His light with the world will have a bit of light for nighttime reading, or to help with the long walk between villages.

I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Truth be told, I like chocolate as much as the next woman. Maybe more. But I’ve decided that I can live without another red boxful. I’m pretty fond of sweet peas and daisies, and have yet to turn up my nose at a bouquet of roses. But I can live without flowers. So instead, I asked my husband to forego the mad dash to the florist or the candy aisle. I gave him a faster, easier option (just the click of a mouse). I asked him to get me something that contains no calories, leaves nothing to recycle, and that will provide a much more satisfying feeling than anything he could buy from a store.

I asked him to go instead to Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org/donation). The way it works is that you browse through a large assortment of items and decide on what you’d like to buy. You can purchase chickens or rabbits ($11 a pair), pigs ($55 a pair), goats ($60 each) lambs ($65 each), cows ($375 each) or a big ol’ $460 water buffalo. You can also buy a bicycle or a fully loaded truck for a missionary, Bibles, blankets, tracts, sewing machines, fishing boats, or a community well. Whatever you buy on the site is then given to an impoverished family or a missionary.

Just one set of chickens or rabbits can completely change a family’s future. As that one pair grows into several, a cottage industry is born–and the family’s food supply is multiplied. I’m so impressed with this ministry that it’s become my “go to” gift site. Now, whenever I’m asked, “What do you want for your birthday? (or Mother’s Day, or Christmas, or Valentine’s Day), I quickly answer, “Something from Gospel for Asia.”

I love my husband’s gift. But it makes me greedy for more. I want to buy a bicycle, or a drum set. I want another goat. I want a sewing machine and a giant pile of blankets, and I want some of the big stuff. I want a Jesus Well, and a fishing boat, and a house.

I am Veruca Salt this morning. I want, I want, I want … and I want it now.

©2009, Shannon Woodward 

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 1:22 am and is filed under Wind Scraps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.