“Please give me some food. I am hungry.” You would think these words would pierce your heart, but most of the time you want to roll your eyes. Children are taught to be beggars, and they sound like robots as they repeat the phrases they are taught. All they see when they look at white people is money. We must be here to feed them and give them money. Why else would we leave the comforts of America to come live in the African bush for a month? It is not to create dependency, I will tell you that much.
This month in Nsoko, Swaziland we are working with an AIM base that has helped fund projects in the community. The biggest one being care points where kids and families can come get a hot meal. The care points are run completely by locals; they cook the food, do the washing, and teach the discipleship classes. It can be hard to know how to spend our time at these care points when there is no structure or plan for us. Nevertheless, the care points create space for kids to be loved and tended to. This is where my team comes in. It is also where some of us struggle; it is where I struggle.
These children are your “hard to love” type. They are rough and tough African children from the bush. They have holes in their clothes, which are also soiled in much more than simply dirt; they hit, spit, grab and fight for your attention. They are not calm and collective and do not behave when asked. The ones that happen to be well-behaved, the cleanest, and the cutest- these sadly get the majority of my attention. I am just being real and honest.
Let me tell you what the Lord is teaching me through these care points:
SERVE and LOVE like JESUS!
God is taking me back to the basics of loving people. You would think someone serving on the mission field would not need to be reminded of this, but here I am falling short once again. When I think of how Jesus served during his time on earth and picture him here in Swaziland, I get a different perspective.
Jesus would walk the 8 miles to these care points and farther. He would not complain about the walk. In fact, he would have the mindset that he GETS to walk and serve today, not he has to walk and serve. He would let kids hold his hands the whole way, no matter how sweaty his palms got. He would arrive at the care point and be content simply BEING with the people. He would not ask questions like, “What is the plan for today? What are we doing?” He would take initiative. He would let the little children come to him. The ones I have a hard time loving, those are the children Jesus would love the most; snot, soiled pants and all. He would love them DESPITE THEIR OUTWARD FILTH.
Jesus is the ultimate servant example. The King of the universe got down on his knees to do something reserved for the lowest of servants: washing feet. So what did the Lord ask me to do? Yes. Wash some feet. My team was 100% behind me on this conviction, and we had a day of washing feet and painting toe nails.
The Lord is showing me every day how to love and love unconditionally. An old pastor of mine said once, “Compassion is love in action.” I fail every day at this, but grace is an amazing thing. The Lord shows us where we need to change and do things differently, and then he takes us into the transformation process if we are willing.
Let me ask you- are you willing?
