Where Much Is Given

Yesterday, as I sat down to my extra large plate piled high with Thanksgiving delights, I found my thoughts going back several years to the evening I attended my first and only Hunger Banquet at BYU. For those of you not familiar with the Hunger Banquet it’s basically this: You purchase a ticket to the banquet and upon arrival you will randomly be assigned a particular meal. 70 percent of those in attendance will be assigned a seat on the floor and be served a meager meal of rice and beans to be shared among those sitting around them. Another 20 percent of attendees will be seated in chairs (no table) and be served a very basic meal, nothing too special. The rest, about 10 percent, will be seated at fancy, candlelit tables and served a lavish meal with all the fixings (similar to my plate of Thanksgiving dinner pictured above).

As you look around the room during the banquet (as I did from my seat on the floor eating rice and beans with my fingers) you can witness a powerful visual representation of the real distribution of our world’s resources. You see, in a whole new way, what it means that 70% of the the world’s population has very little to call their own or to fill their bellies. It’s quiet an experience and one that I have never forgotten. (Thanks Julie for introducing me to the Hunger Banquet) I remember feeling quiet a bit of shame that evening, because I knew that I personally took so much of what I had for granted. I’m sure I still do.

Thanksgiving is of course a time to reflect on one’s many blessings. Just the fact that I can sit down to a Thanksgiving feast like yesterday’s and fill my belly, along with other’s in that 30 percent of the world’s well-fed category, is proof of all that I’m blessed to enjoy in my life. No one has to be told that the world is an unfair place. It’s obvious. There are so many who have very little, some who have more than they could ever need, and several in between. I wish that I had the answers or even satisfactory explanations for why things are this way, but I do not. Though I do feel compelled to ask myself, what does it all mean for me, someone who has been blessed with so much?

Partially the answer is in a principle that I have been taught all my life: Where much is given, much is expected. Because I believe this principle is truth, it has many implications for me. Over the last little while I have been thinking more than I usually do about how this principle plays itself out in my life. I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to do better. I need to do more. I must do a better, more conscientious job of living up to the things that God, who is the source of all my blessings, expects of me, because I have been given much. (The last part of that sentence would be a good title for a song, don’t you think?)

One thing I am most grateful for are the people around me who live this principle consistently and show me how to do it. My Uncle Rob and Aunt Mary are two people who I feel are perfect examples of this. In the last few years Rob and Mary have had the blessing of being able to build an addition on to their home, complete with a large gourmet kitchen and dining area. It really is a beautiful, functional space that is most often filled to full capacity. Rob and Mary are always inviting over, feeding amazing food too, and loving and serving a household full of friends, neighbors, strangers (who quickly become friends), and family. Uncle Rob and Aunt Mary share their blessings with everyone. They truly live the “where much is given, much is expected” principle. (Thank you Rob and Mary for that amazing Thanksgiving feast and for all the love and service you give our family!)

I know so many, like Rob and Mary, who live this principle. I’ve so often been the recipient of service given by people who live this principle; even those who don’t have much but still give much. So many of those people are you who are reading these words right now. Thank you, thank you!

At this Thanksgiving time, I resolve to be more like you.