For the past few days I had been wondering what to write a blog on this month. Besides my blogs about what life looks like wherever I’m living at the time. I have felt my inspiration for my blogs come from a moment of God reviling something to me that makes me stop and say,
“Wow, that’s something I never want to forget”
With that being said, let me tell you about the afternoon that little Asael had a hand in teaching me a very valuable lesson.
((Let me first give you some background on our ministry here. Our days here in Bolivia look like us girls each going to our assigned house at the orphanage at 8:30am. Each house has 10 kids who live in it with ages ranging from four to seventeen and one Tia (house mom) who lives there and takes care of the kids every day. Half of the kids go to school in the morning and the other half goes to school in the afternoon when the others return home. I arrive at my house at 8:30am and help with any cleaning or homework that needs to get done that morning. Lunch is a 12:00pm and a break until 2:00pm. When I go back at 2:00 I help with anymore cleaning and the homework from the kids who just came home from school until 5:30pm. When all of the work is done it’s just play time! None of the children or Tia’s know any English so every day without even trying, my seven hour day turns into a seven hour Spanish class/game of charades. As mentally exhausting and frustrating as it gets at times. I see my ability to speak Spanish growing by leaps and bounds every single day. Being around only Spanish speakers seven hours a day, every day, it is a sink or swim mentality and I refuse to sink!))
Back to my story..
One afternoon when I came back to my house at 2:00 the Tia motioned to me and said “Necesito tu lavar los platos para me, por favor” as she was walking out the door. Based on my past Spanish lessons/charade games I knew she had just asked me to wash the dishes for her. I waved to the kids doing homework at the table and little four year old Asael playing on the concrete floor with his one hotwheels car. He hasn’t quite warmed up to me yet, definitely not one of the kids that is instantly glued to any Americans hip the second they get there. He likes to check you out for a while before he shares his smiles and time with you.
As I’m standing barefoot in the kitchen, scrubbing the dishes piled up in the sink and repeating to myself the Spanish word for each dish I pick up because I know eleven year old Hillary will be quizzing me on them as soon as she finishes her homework. Asael quietly walks up next to me, turns on the faucet and begins to rinse all the dishes I am washing and then once he starts getting ahead of me he grabs a towel and starts drying all the dishes he just rinsed. My jaw begins to drop as I see this four year old boy who can barely see over the sink, not have to be told even once to do this, but simply saw the need, obviously knew how to do it already from experience and steps up to the plate without a second thought.
As we proceed to wash the dishes together I couldn’t help but think of all the other things I have seen the kids here do that are beyond their years and they do them well because they know it is expected of them.
– Once they turn 10 they have to hand wash all their own clothes
– When they turn 5 they are expected to hand wash their own socks and underwear
– At age 6 they are expected to help with yard work on the grounds for at least one hour every day
– An 11 year old is teaching me a different language better than my high school teacher
– 10 year olds take care of babies
– The Tia’s take care of ten children who are not their own, every day
– All the kids take turns working in the kitchen to help cook lunch for all 60 people at the orphanage
– They all help sweep, mop, take out the trash, and wash dishes in their house every day
Doing all of these things is not easy or fun for them, but it is expected of them. They survive, and honestly they flourish in it once they do it more. This realization made me think about how it is okay to expect more from people. Most people are perfectly capable of doing more than they default to. It may be uncomfortable in the beginning, but it is possible. As humans we fall into being complacent with our outpour more often times than we’d like to admit. It’s not wrong to expect people’s true potential. We should all help pull each other into that, even when it’s not easy. Expect more from your children, friends, significant others, siblings, even parents. Expect them to walk in their true potential.
On the flip side, when you think God may be expecting too much from you, remember that it is possible. Remember the children here at this Bolivian orphanage when you feel stretched to your true potential by your Heavenly Father. He is only asking it of you because He knows that you can do it and He wants to see you flourish in it eventually. To someone who didn’t witness it, it may seem absurd for a four year old to be able to hand wash dishes better than a dish washer. God wants to show you that you can be that outstanding, if you step up to the plate.
For me, as the race wears on me and the honeymoon phase of living in a foreign country is beginning to fade away. This four year old reminded me that I can push through. I can do this even when I don’t think I can. I can keep running this race with endurance, even when I’m tired of only eating bread for breakfast and have forgotten what hot showers feel like. I will flourish in this season because I am setting that standard for myself. I can do this. I can walk in my true potential.
You can do this.
Expect more from yourself.
