My teammate Jessica Keown had this great idea for our team: to be more intentional in how we love. So we have started with 1 Corinthians 13 and are taking each of the attributes of love listed in that chapter and intentionally studying them and living them out day by day…
Love is patient and kind, it does not envy, it does not boast and it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered and it keeps no records of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.
So we have been looking for ways to love everyone around us- from ourselves, each other and our contacts to the children we play with everyday and the strangers we wave to from our cars. Practically loving people becomes really easy when you look for ways to do it. My favorite method is to buy the children popcorn and eat it with them. I also love hugging them, kissing them on the head and picking them up and spinning them in the air whenever I see them. These things might seem really simple and insignificant but when you have so little every act of love and kindness seems so much bigger.
If you just look at these kids they might seem hard to love and a little gross to play with… snot running down their faces, flies constantly circling them, ripped and stained clothes, feet covered in who knows what… but then you remember… they’ve never felt a soft tissue or played in a bubble bath or gone to a mall or picked out their own shoes- they can’t even afford to buy themselves an 8 cent bag of popcorn.
We went to an orphanage the other day and I was shocked by what I saw… This place was huge and gorgeous, the facilities were immaculate and the kids had tons of toys to play with and nutritious food to eat- I was immediately turned off. These kids had everything, they didn’t need us! Why were we there? Why weren’t we at the dump or out in the streets playing with the kids who actually needed us and needed love? God had to constantly work on my heart that first half hour and repeat to me over and over again that children don’t need objects, they don’t need money, they need Love, His Love, and I need to give it to them… and then everything changed… I fell in love.
This little boy named Judah came out of nowhere, jumped into my arms and stole my heart. He and I spent the next couple of hours playing, spinning in circles and blowing bubbles. His favorite was when I would just hold him close and giggle with him about nothing. One time we were spinning and he got a little scared and thought I was going to drop him so I tried to put him down. He immediately freaked out and latched on to me and begged me not to leave him. It broke my heart. I took him aside and sat him down on my lap so that I could look straight into his wide eye and hold him close and promise him: when he is with me he is safe, I wouldn’t ever drop him or hurt him and I was there all afternoon and I wasn’t going to leave him until I had to. After that we just sat there hugging each other for a few minutes…
