All in a Day’s Lessons

I got a letter, an avocado and a lesson today.  It seems that I needed a few intense interactions to help me remember to pay attention. God is the persistent father that never stops looking out for us, drawing us close, and reminding us over and over again what it means to be His child.  He is not bound by time, feelings, limitations, or failures. His help is perfect and there is nothing that will stop Him from interacting with our willing hearts, if only we will pay attention. He is intent on loving each and every one of his children right into the place they belong, His family.

Looking for Him in each moment and each interaction matters as we walk about this earth. In Uganda, there are a lot of other things to look at, and sometimes it is hard to settle down and sit in the rest of faith. But in His way, He got my attention right at the beginning of the day when I opened up my letter from Savior. The name Savior is not all that unusual here, as children are named such things as Praise, Destiny, Marvelous, and Emmanuel to name a few. More on that another day. Regardless, it still made me smile to read the signature. After all, our savior does write us “letters” of sorts all day long doesn’t He? When we give Him our attention, He speaks. The bible says it this way, “My sheep know me and they hear my voice.” John 10:27.

Savior’s letter was filled with sweet words explaining how much he loved me and appreciated that I was teaching him to read (he is in the fourth grade). But I admit, I was taken by surprise by his attention. The few minutes that I had with him are a blur. For him, somehow this translated into a big deal. That he was so intent on telling me all the reasons for his love speaks volumes about the little orphan hearts wandering around this place. In short, little or big deeds done with His heart, tend to become something we could never formulate through our own initiative. There are days when I forget this, and feel that I am not enough, and not doing enough... and times that I feel like an utter failure, but my Father won’t let me stay there for long. Grace works through our weaknesses.  2 Corinthians 12:8-10

...I am grateful that my days are filled with such lessons. I am startled awake deep down in my soul, and shaken to the core, on consistent repeat.

The important key is to surrender, keeping our gaze fixated on our Beloved and to move in and with His love. But on this particular day, the Father was not finished reminding my heart of a few things. After such a sweet interaction with Savior, I went to get a bottle of water. When I walked up to the little shop, there were many men sitting around talking with one another. I soon heard the familiar “Muzungu” and saw that a Muslim man was addressing the owner of the shop for me. The reason that I bring up his affiliation is that I was surprised that he readily began to engage me (as a woman)  in a very friendly and disarming way. I began to joke with him, thanking him for announcing that a white woman had walked up looking for water. I bantered, “I mean, I don’t know how in the world you knew I was a Muzungu?!?!” and got everyone deep belly laughing. He then walked over to me, put his arm next to mine and said, “I see the same thing, two arms, and if you cut us here, we would both spill blood…..we are the same.” Everyone laughed, but the air was thick with the weight of his words, and my heart was overcome with the deep awareness of God showing up to speak His truth in a world that has forgotten.  As the minority here, his willingness to embrace me as just another human was a true  gift. “Love others as you love yourself.” Matt. 22.

My lessons were far from over though. Coming home, my heart was filtering through the days events like pages of an earmarked book. A bit distracted and ready to be home to put my feet up, I nevertheless decided to slow down my agenda and stop to talk to my friend Marjorette. As I have moved toward her as a friend, I have learned of her widowhood, (he died when he was 32 of heart failure), her physical problems, and her five children. High blood pressure, pain and swelling, and a myriad of other issues scare her because she doesn’t want to die and leave her five kids without parents. One day, all of this pain will be gone. The first day I prayed for her, the swelling and pain dissipated greatly and she was greatly comforted by Him as He washed all that fear off of her. Yay God! The next day it was gone!!!!! (though it did return after she went to the doctor so let’s keep praying!).

At any rate, when I stopped to check on her, I was surprised yet again in this interesting day when she reached behind her counter and brought out an avocado. She doesn’t sell avocados but she had walked to a stall up the hill to get me one that day. She told me she had been missing me. I will admit, receiving this gift was at first hard. After all, she did not have enough to pay the doctor, much less enough to spend shopping for fruit for the resident muzungu. But… #dignity. So, I hugged her and allowed myself the gift of being loved by my new friend in the way that made her smile too. Isn’t it just like God to remind us how much He loves us through others?  My next reminder from Him was this; we can’t give away what we haven’t received. Receiving love is paramount to having any love to give away. It was right and good to take that avocado with a grin of gratitude, and dream of my dinner soon to come.  She grinned back of course, and the world was made right once again.

So in the end, a letter, a lesson and a little TLC infiltrated my heart filled with unknowns, insecurities, hopes and dreams, and helped me to remember what’s what. The truth is, I am nothing without Him, but if I give Him my attention, He will be by my side, teaching me, helping me and holding me close as I learn the true meaning of love. When you think of me here, I hope you are also encouraged in these ways, because you are just as much apart of the story of Savior, the shop man, and Marjorette as I am. I hope you will walk around looking for love in all the right places (wink, wink) and find that He meets you there as well. WE are his body, we are in this world for His glory, together, and I am daily grateful for you all. #gointoalltheworld

Brave Africa Hugs to you all.

“Love the Lord your God with all of your passion, prayer and intelligence and love others as well as you love yourself.” Matthew 22:37-40 MSG

“It is a quotidian mystery that dailiness can lead to such despair and yet also be at the core of our salvation… We want life to have meaning, we want fulfillment, healing and even ecstasy, but the human paradox is that we find these things by starting where we are…. We must look for blessings to come from unlikely, everyday places.” Kathleen Norris”