So this week, Team Girls in Motion helped run a summer camp program through an organization called Mount Zion. We had five days of playing games, singing songs, providing lunch, and leading devotions for about 100 children that showed up each day. The camp was at a community center in Lavender Hill, an area heavily affected by gang violence and drug abuse.
As you may expect, growing up in this kind of environment is hard. We saw the effects of it in the kids we were ministering to. There were constant fist fights between them that we tried our best to break up and resolve. The kids had very poor manners and no respect for leadership. They are rough on us and with each other. The 100 of them inevitably overpowered the 9 of us. Although there were some really sweet and fun moments in the week, it was tiring and frustrating to keep their attention from 9am to 4pm each day.
At first, I felt guilty for getting frustrated with these kids. Here I was on the other side of the world, wanting so badly to give more of the love of Jesus to a bunch of kids that needed it so much, and I wasn’t doing a good enough job at it. As I prayed about my own feelings of insufficiency, the Lord started to teach me more about His heart for us.
These kids lived in Lavender Hill, and we just live in a fallen world. Like children that wouldn’t listen, we humans had turned our backs on God. It only makes sense to become frustrated with this kind of behavior, as I had sort of become with the kids at camp. They were hard to love in the same way that we are hard to love. But God’s love is perfect and unconditional, and he bought us back at a high price.
God’s love is always patient and always kind. Mine is not. God’s love never, ever fails. Mine does. It’s a good thing I’m not God, because I would do a terrible job at it.
At first, I tried to love these kids on my own strength and with my own love. I quickly discovered that this is impossible. However, God hasn’t asked me to do this on my own. He is increasing my awareness of my dependency on Him. I am only able to love when I do it through His strength.
“Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause,
As I walk from earth into eternity”
-Hosanna, Hillsong United
