Give & It Shall be Given to You

It was rice-planting time in Japan. Once again the land was humming with the rice field planting song.

Aki’s mother was making ready to leave for the rice paddies. She too must help in the rice field. Before she left the house, she looked into the fuel basket. With a groan she said to Aki, “The fuel is so nearly gone, there is only enough for another cooking of rice. While you are caring for the baby, perhaps you would walk down the way. Now and again the wind sends leaves flying down the road. If you could get a basket of leaves…”

Aki said nothing. He did not look up, either. He had a secret, but was afraid that if he so much as squeaked, his mother might learn what it was.

“See to it that you take good care of the baby,” mother warned Aki. With that she hurried away down the path to the rice paddies.

As soon as Mother was out of sight, Aki went across the way. Mitsu lived there. Mitsu had no little brother or sister to care for. “Come with me to the mountains today,” said Aki. “You take care of the baby for me. I will search for fuel. If all goes well, there will be something to go under the rice pots tonight.”

Mitsu put on her walking sandals, strapped the baby to her back, and the two set out.
They walked along until they came to the mission. White people from across the sea lived there. They had taken in all the babies that were not wanted. Other poor children went there to school. Mitsu and Aki were both poor; but not for anything would they have gone to that school. They had heard of the dreadful food they gave the children to eat at the school.

When the two came as far as the mission, they saw children who lived there. They were all gathered under the great willow tree beside the gate. They were listening to their teacher talking. Mitsu and Aki had heard the old people talking about the strange school on the hill. They had said that the children who went to that school were thin and wretched from the food that was provided. “No doubt they will soon die,” Mamasan Yakama had said. “What will the Jesus people do then?”

Mitsu and Aki did not know why they were called Jesus people. They thought that it had something to do with the food they gave the children.

Mitsu said to Aki, “Let us stop and look at the children. We will know then if they look sickly enough to die.”As they peered in, the teacher was saying, “It was a dark night. The sky was filled with stars. Suddenly the shepherds, who were tending their flocks, heard a sound. It was more than one sound. It was many sounds. Then they heard voices singing. Suddenly they saw beautiful people in the sky, only they had wings. They were called angels.”

“And I know what they came to tell the shepherds,” said the very smallest of the children. “They had come to say that Jesus was born that night.”

Aki and Mitsu exchanged glances. Jesus was not a strange kind of food then, but a Baby.
“And what did the angels tell the shepherds to do?” the teacher asked.

“They told the shepherds to go to the inn in the town and there they would
find a Baby lying in a manger,” was the reply.

“When He grew up, He died to save us from our sins,” the teacher went on to say. “He also taught us many wonderful truths. One of them is that if we have something, and someone else needs it more, we should give it to him. This is how Jesus taught it. He said, ‘Cast thy bread upon the water and it will come back to thee after many days.’”

Mitsu and Aki were so astonished at what they had heard that they left their place by the gate. On up the road they went.

“There is surely a mistake,” said Mitsu. “The children who go to that school do not look sickly.”
“They even looked stronger than we,” Aki pointed out.

“But what strange teachings are theirs!” Mitsu said. “If we give to someone else, how then would we have anything for ourselves?”

They walked along until at length they came to a place where there were leaves. The wind had packed them down into a ditch, and left them there. Aki pounced on the leaves eagerly. Soon he had packed them all down in his basket. Surely this would be enough for their mothers’ rice pots tonight, the two decided. What a pleasant surprise this would be for his mother, Aki thought. She would know now that he had grown large enough to help her.

They pattered homeward until they came as far as the gate of the mission. Outside of the mission sat an old, old woman. She was so old that she could not work. For that reason she sat here by the gate begging from people that might go to the mission.

When she saw Aki and Mitsu, she said, “If I only had some young feet to run and gather leaves for myself. It has been many days since I had a leaf to burn under my rice pot.”

Aki looked at Mitsu. She was thinking of the story he had heard at the mission that morning. Surely here was someone who had less than they.

“Why not give this poor lady the leaves we have?” Aki asked. “If what that Jesus teacher said is true, then we should be able to find other leaves for ourselves.”

“Yes,” Mitsu agreed. “Give it to the woman. We will then know if what the teacher told the children is true.”Aki emptied his basket into the basket of the old woman by the gate.

“It is what the Jesus people teach,” he said. “We would know if it is a better way of doing than we have tried before.”
“Jesus go with you,” the old woman cried with joy, “and He will show you where there is a supply that will fill your basket again.”

Aki took up his basket and once more the two set out for the hills. Aki’s back was becoming so tired from the weight of the basket that he put it over his head instead. He could not see so well this way, but neither did it hurt his back.

Just then the two heard the sound of a motor. It was those Jesus people, who ran those cars. Mamasan Matsuaki had said to run and hide behind a tree when one of those machines came along the road. But the children did not run and hide, their curiosity got the better of them.

As the car approached, the children could see two workmen in it. “We are going up into the hills. Would you like a ride?” the driver called.

Before Mitsu could remember that her mother had warned her against the cars of the white strangers, Aki said, “Honourable strangers, we are pleased at your offer.” At that he climbed up into the truck and helped Mitsu up beside him.
The truck then gave a jerk and off they went again. The rice paddies in the valley below were left farther and farther behind. Aki’s’ eyes were like stars. He had never had a ride in a truck before. The baby also was so happy she began to sing. Mitsu alone was unhappy.

Just then the driver of the truck spoke up. “How far are you children going?”
“Honourable stranger,” said Aki, “We do not know. We were going to look for leaves that our mothers might have fuel for their rice pots.”

“Oh, very well,” said the man. With that the truck shot forward and on they went. One turn in the road was passed and then another. Aki was thinking that the valley was left far behind now. He thought of how far Mitsu and he would have to walk to get home. Perhaps they would not even get home before dark came. Suddenly he wished that he and Mitsu had not accepted the ride at all.

Then the truck slowed up as they came to a place where a new road was being built. The driver pulled over to the side of the road. He turned to get Aki and said, “Why burn leaves when you can get wood? Look at all the chips there on the ground. They are from the trees that have been cut down to make place for the road. Help yourself to all you can carry.”

Aki picked his basket full, and Mitsu filled the pockets in her sleeves. Aki’s heart rejoiced over the treasure of a fine, clean wood. However, his rejoicing was brief. When he tried to get the basket on his back, it was so heavy he could not lift it.

Mitsu began to cry. They were far from home, and the basket was too heavy for Aki to carry.
“See here, what is all the trouble?” one of the workmen asked. When he heard what was wrong, he said, “Don’t worry. We are bringing this truckload of wood right through your town. We will give you and the wood basket a ride home.”When Aki’s and Mitsu’s mothers came home that evening and saw all the fuel which had been brought home, they could scarcely believe their eyes. “Real wood,” they said. “How long it will last.”

“How come you two have found such a fortune in wood?” Mitsu’s mother asked.
“It is because we listened to the words that Jesus spoke long ago,” Aki replied.

“And tried them out,” Mitsu added. Then turning to Aki, Mitsu added, and “This Jesus man taught words of wisdom, we know now might it not improve our minds to go and learn the rest of the wisdom He knew?”Aki nodded.
“Tomorrow,” he agreed, “when the planting songs are sounding from the rice paddies, you and I shall go to learn wisdom where the Jesus people live.”