A line of small dwellings put together with metal sheets, random pieces of wood and whatever else. One day in Albania I and some teammates found ourselves in this place. It was only a matter of crossing the street to be transported to this strip of a different world that was home to some Roma families. First we met Lilliana, a sweet elderly lady. We prayed for her injured leg and then were introduced to her daughter and grandchildren. We couldn’t communicate in words, but we made up for it in smiles. We tried talking via hand motions, and head nods. But, then remembered that Albanians nod for “no” and shake for “yes” and then we were confused about whether they were nodding “no” to our questions or changed it to mean “yes” knowing that we use opposite gestures! At this point, I remembered that I had a bottle of blue nail polish in my purse. I immediately had an urge. If you know me well you know that I randomly receive urges. Sometimes it means trust falls, other times when walking by eggs in a market I have to restrain myself from splatting them all on the ground, or from patting strangers heads just to see their reactions, or jumping into a body of water in the middle of winter. I indulge in some while refraining from most. If you lived in my mind then you would understand how much self-control I truly have. But, there is also another kind of urge I get. It’s the Holy Spirit inside begging to get out and He beckons me to action. Sometimes it’s a simple, “you’re beautiful” spoken to a girl. A hug to a toughened soul who would rather deny it. Maybe a favorite keepsake suddenly gifted to a friend. I’m familiar with the feeling now. It’s a rush of excitement as the idea alights in my mind and every time I know have only about 10 seconds to respond. 10 seconds before the opportunity is gone and 10 seconds before I can change my mind.
Conversation, or lack there of, was wrapping up and it was the perfect time to transition to goodbye and avoid awkward silences. 1-2-. And that’s when I pulled out the polish and took the young girls hand to ask if I could paint her nails for her. She replied with a beautiful smile.
It’s my prayer to live in these urges: one day to be so in synch with God’s heart that I don’t even count, but dive in seamlessly without thought. They come in a moment and can be gone in a moment, but they are moments that make a better history.
I sat on the ground and painted her nails blue. And as I did, I realized that this wasn’t just something to fill time, or just something pretty. Before us stood her small makeshift home, under us a dusty dirt road, and around us trash scattered about, but on her nails bright blue proudly burst forth.
Strange. I thought. Here I am with nothing on me to give her but bright blue. It’s not going to fill her stomach, improve the roof over her head, or educate her mind. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel the significance of the moment. I was taken back to Thailand, I sat on a couch next to a girl my age but with scars miles deeper. She closed her eyes to the pounding headache from her hangover. Her hand rested on my knee as I painted. Men bought her every night, but in the day I gave her blue. Uganda, our host mother sits to have her nails painted. But, as I work her head bobs up and down as her body fights to find rest from her long day of work that began before the sunrise. I had an urge and gave her that half full bottle of blue paint. I wish it were new, but it was what I had at the time. You would’ve thought I gave her the moon from her joyous announcement, “Look at what Acacia gave me!!”, she said as she waved it around. The hard-worked woman now a young smiling girl.
I didn’t plan to paint the nails of any of these women. But, now I see the traces of the blue paint in three different continents, in three different women, and in three very different circumstances.
Blue means hope, worth, and value.
To the young Roma girl I was saying: though your surroundings are drab and sometimes depressing that’s not what I see inside you. You are full of potential. Hope.
To the young woman trapped in a nightmare who wanted to just disappear I was saying: you are valuable and worth being cared for and known. You are a treasure that can not be bought with coins. Worth.
To the Ugandan mother loaded with responsibilities and chores I was saying: you are more than what you do or bring for others. You are you and you are beautiful. Value.
When you give someone a gift you are saying that that person is worth more than the gift. Or otherwise you wouldn’t give it.
God gave us His Son to give us abundant life. And I want to paint the whole world blue.
