Warning: This blog contains no less than 15 references to Lice…
I am not scared of much.
But I will be the first to admit that the fears I have are completely irrational. They are mostly centered on common place things that I have never experienced. Seriously, they are absurd. For example I am scared of getting a tick. I worked at a summer camp for 5 years and have seen many a 5 year old have a tick removed without a single tear shed. Still I’m petrified.
Same thing goes for getting a cavity, Scooby doo (I had a bad experience with the ghost ship episode when I was younger)… and lice.
Kids in other countries have lice. It’s a part of life. The kids at the school go and get lice shampoos twice a week as a part of their routine. Picking lice out of each other’s hair is actually a bonding experience. I saw one of the long term volunteers receive lots of high fives from the kids when she let them look through her hair and they found lice. She was in the club.
Then, lice struck a little closer to home. One of my teammates was told she had lice… one of my teammates I just happen to share a hair brush with. Oh my gosh. I was more than happy to help comb out her hair after treatment… with my hair pulled up, at an arm’s length away, and I prayed my little heart out.
I am surrounded by calm coolheaded mature teammates telling me this is not a big deal. It’s just lice… but I spent 3 days mindlessly scratching the imaginary lice on my own head.
Thursday night we had a sleepover at the Children’s home. We had popcorn, watched a movie, built forts out of sheets… the works. I was walking around and I heard Aya start yelling, “Tita! Tita! Sleep here by me, I save you a spot!” She grabbed my pillow and wedged in into a tiny spot between her and the wall. So I laid down and was instantly spooning with 4 year old Aya and 11 year old Maria Fe.
I’m not going to lie… even for me, a snuggling enthusiast… it was really hard to lay there and enjoy the moment with these two beautiful faces knowing that lice could be hopping my way any second.
God is funny, I am convinced. I am laying there within inches of two little lice filled heads, trying to think about anything but lice, and the girls begin to lean their heads closer to me as they scatch away at my little enemies.
I’m sad to report I actually considered moving several times… until I started to pray.
Two verses kept coming to mind:
“perfect love drives out fear.” 1 John 4:18
And
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
As I looked for the truth in this situation and asked God to drive out all fear, I began to picture those little bugs shaped like hearts and crosses… Love bugs, if you will. Thinking about them running around in Love camo set my mind at ease. Then I pictured Jesus just smiling down as he watched us snuggle.
I felt like God was reminding me that I have been asking repeatedly for Him to put me out of my comfort zone. Already this month I have become comfortable. Being surrounded by children is one of the setting in which I thrive. This year I want God to demolish the fear barriers that remain in my life and to put me in places where I get to know more about what it means to love the unlovable. Jesus spent a lot of time with lepers, tax collectors and others that were unlovable by this world’s criteria. And He loved them extravagantly… He spent time in their homes… maybe He even snuggled a little… who knows.
I want to spend my life loving the unlovable of this world. I want to choose snuggling every time…
I had a great night’s sleep… and no lice yet, but I think God is bringing me to a place where I won’t even need to blog if some love bugs make their way into my life.
