The old lady. I don’t know her name, oh but I can tell you a lot about her.
We spent three days together and our meeting up looked a little different each time.
We first met at the village well. She was walking with a stick and stepping very carefully from stone to stone. She can’t see well, but her hand found mine and once I held it back she didn’t want to let go.
At the time, I was keeping my host mother company as she did laundry but I quickly felt a nudge in my spirit to let the old lady lead me to her house. A short walk down the mountain and she was pulling out her straw mat on her front porch, inviting me to sit and stay a while. Not by words but gestures.
Before I knew it her head was on my shoulder and the tears began to fall. As she spoke in her language I could hear the pain. I could hear the hurt. I could hear the worry and see the fear. When she looked up, tears were running down her face.
I don’t know what is hurting but every tear I see is screaming she is lonely. This is her cry for hope. Her cry to be seen. Her cry to be loved. Meet her in this place of desperation Father, because I can’t help her on my own.
I was overwhelmed by feeling this woman’s desperate cry for help.
This hurt. This pain. This loneliness.
It’s not just here on the front porch of a mud house in a village on a mountain in Nepal. People are hurting and they are looking for love on front porches in small towns in America, on church pews in the big cities, and all around the world.
She wasn’t looking for much. She just wanted to be acknowledged.
I saw her neglected.
Her family laughed lightly as she grabbed onto my hand at the well.
I saw her rejected.
Other villagers passed her by as she wrestled with empty plastic bottles needing to be filled of water.
And then I saw her.
Just her. All of her.
A few stared when I met her again where our stone paths crossed, sat in her front yard and embraced her. I looked her in the eyes and she weeped again.
“It’s about realizing– Love doesn’t happen when you arrive in a certain place.
It happens when your heart arrives in a certain place –
wherever you are, right where you are…”
– Ann Voskamp
Right where I was, I realized my heart arrived to see what Jesus sees.
To see her need, and meet her in that need.
She desired to be touched with genuine love. And, don’t we all? It’s every hearts desire to be loved. Unfortunately, we often choose not to because it’s easier for us.
Pure love isn’t just a card, or hug, or a get well soon. I’m learning that love is being willing to open up your own heart to feel the pain, hurt where others hurt, cry when others cry, and to just sit– sit with them in whatever their mess may be.
That’s the Jesus kind of love.
A sit by the well, stand up for the one being humiliated, cry with a friend, give your life for another, every single day kind of love.
This lady spends most of her day unable to see the splendor of his creation that surrounds her. She lives on a mountain top, missing every sunrise and sunset. Living in her own home, she’s separated from her family. My heart aches.
Father I pray that she never feels lonely again. Meet her where she is today and pour out your presence in her life. Mend the broken places of her heart and bring unity where there is disconnect in her soul. I want her heart to explode with love, jump with joy, and experience your kind of love.
She deserves it.
She deserves to be seen.
She deserves to have shoulders to cry on.
She deserves to walk out of any shame and breathe in fresh air.
All because You said she is worth it!
This is what Jesus told me when I sat beside this old lady.
What you have for her is what I have given you- An exploding love, a brilliant compassion, a joy unescapable and a heart that can hurt for those who are hurting.
And now I can’t help but cry out for all of those who feel overlooked, unseen, lonely, hurt, or hopeless.
I cry out for our hearts to increase capacity to love more, love better, and love closer! Not just because others deserve it, but because it’s 100% worth it.
Wherever you are, right where you are….
let our hearts arrive.
XOXO
Tay
