The Generosity of the Basket Weaver

 

Everyday for my morning pooja I have a small basket to collect flowers from my garden. I specifically use only that basket because it has a beautiful memory associated with it. It reminds me of the generosity of a  basket weaver in Kauai. In 2017, I was visiting the island of Kauai with my family. We were driving  through the rolling green hills admiring the waterfalls along the scenic route. We stopped at a view point to enjoy the scenery. A basket weaver was selling hand woven baskets. I asked the basket weaver how much the basket costs. He quoted $10. I thought it was over priced and decided against buying it.

In our rental car we had a big bag of KFC chicken nuggets. Our 8 year son bought the KFC nuggets but decided not to eat it. Before we left the viewpoint we asked the basket weaver if he wanted the chicken nuggets. He gladly took it and he insisted I take one of his hand woven baskets. I declined because of the price he had quoted earlier but he asked me to take it for no charge. I was touched by his generosity and humility. He did not want to take food from us as charity and offered us his hand woven basket instead. A decade later I still use the basket he wove to gather flowers for my daily pooja to remind myself to be authentic and sincere like the simple basket weaver.

 The basket in fact reminds me of a beautiful lesson Jesus taught his disciples. 

The Widow’s Offering

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Source: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012&version=NIV