Something comes over me when I look into the faces of the people I have met here in India.
Our van approaches an orphanage. As we get close I can see the tiny faces of children peeping out the window. They are waiting for us. A simple smile and wave sends them into a fury of excitement. When we enter into the home, we are swarmed by these children. They want hugs. They want to sit by you and hold your hand. All around me I am greeted by smiling faces. The man who has started this orphanage has sold everything he owns to do so. He is struggling to provide for so many orphaned children. At times dinner will approach and there will be no food to cook for these children. He sees God's faithfulness evidently through this, as food will show up on the doorstep. Living in such a way is such a struggle for this man, but he knows he has been called to love the orphaned.
We are walking through the slums. It doesn't take long for people to start coming out of their small, crumbling shacks they call home. They want to say hello. They want to welcome you into their home and offer food and drink. What they offer seems so small to me and yet I know it's a huge sacrifice for them. They are eager to share their story and to hear your story. One man is very sick. He's HIV positive. He is so filled with hope that God will heal him. He has a joy about him that cannot be explained except for that hope he has in Christ as his Savior.
I am at a home for the elderly who are poor. One woman hasn't seen her children in years. She doesn't know where they are or how life is going for them. She misses them greatly. Her heart longs for them as a mother. She doesn't understand why her children have just left her to live out the rest of her years alone. She expresses how joyful she is to be visited by us.
I meet with physically disabled young women who are learning skills to be able to earn an income. They gather around in a circle to greet us and talk to us. One woman takes a little bit longer to get to the circle. Her legs are crippled and she has no wheelchair or crutches to support her, so she uses her arms to drag herself along the ground. She smiles when she reaches the circle. I look at these women, all young and beautiful and with so much to offer this world, and yet I know that life is very difficult for them.
Every time I step on the street I am met by children, women holding babies, and elderly, crippled men with hands held out hoping for some change or food. With the language barrier, I try to show them love as best as possible. There are three little boys who live in the dump near where we are staying. My teammate Julie and I bought them ice cream cones at the market across the street when they came begging one afternoon. They ran off so happy to have such a treat, but I was still left feeling like that wasn't enough.
When I meet with these people – the poor, the needy, the orphaned, the widowed, the crippled – I feel an overwhelming sense of humility. These people are precious, they are treasured by God. He loves them so much that He sent His only son to die for them. He wants nothing more than for them to experience His love. This is where I've been brought into the picture. God doesn't need me in order to accomplish His will. He chose me. He has entrusted me with these people. He has set me in the paths of these people in order to be His hands and feet….to share with them the love of Christ.
At times this thought scares me. It's a huge responsibility. It is a responsibility I am thankful to have. I would hate to go through life feeling numb to people and the circumstances they face. There are moments though when I don't know what to do. When I feel like I'm not doing enough. It has challenged me to think about how to take on reaching out to people in a way that brings glory to God. In a way that He would reach out. Again, I am brought back to love. Christ gave everything out of love. He didn't question how a beggar would spend money given to them or justify not giving by thinking that they deserve or choose to be where they're at. Or wonder how much is too much to give someone. He wouldn't find sitting with a child and playing a simple game with them as time wasted. He wouldn't think twice about walking into someone's home and praying healing over them.
I know that the only way to take on this amazing responsibility is to be radical. To stop thinking so much about what my limits are, but instead pushing aside those limits and moving forward without hesitation. I can't expect God to do big things if I put so many limits on Him. What if, instead of worrying about how much is too much to give, I gave excessively and watched God do as He did with feeding the 5,000 with just a few loaves of bread and some fish, never letting me run out of things to give? The more I take on that mindset, the more I realize I'm not really being that radical. I'm doing exactly what I'm called to do in the Bible. To give everything, all that I am and all that I have, out of love. A love without conditions.
I'm still trying to take all of this in. I know I have so much learning to do and it's not going to all come together overnight. It is worth pursuing though. I want to come to a place where my first reaction is to pour out love on someone in whatever way they need it. Whether it's to hear their story and share in their heartache, to provide for a need, or to feed and clothe them. Or even to forgive the people who are responsible for the heartache in this world – like the men who train up child soldiers or sell young girls on the street to the highest bidder.
As 1 Corinthians 16:14 says – do everything in love. I can't say no to that!
