During our first couple of days upon arriving at our host home, I’d watch her humbly prepare the dining table. I felt such a tug to speak with her, but as always there was a language barrier. She didn’t know any more English than I knew Rwandan. But was I going to let that stop me? At every meal time I got unusually excited. For one, food is an obvious love language of mine, but excited mostly because I knew I was going to get to see her. She never spoke a word, but there were moments I’d catch her sweetly glance over at us. And that spoke more to me than a thousand words. So one day, I called Moses (our ministry translator and most patient big brother) and asked him to translate for me.
I was now face to face with this woman, whose name I did not yet know and I said, “One day you & I should sit down. I’ll teach you English & you can teach me Rwandan.”
She responded with a smile and a thumbs up so I continued by saying, “So that I can tell you how beautiful you are every day!”
Yea, call me a suck up… but I’ll never forget the way her face suddenly lit, like that of a million suns! I was reminded, at that very second those words came out of my mouth, of the way God sees me and of the way he sees each of His children – beautiful and perfect even in our imperfections.
Mama Clinton is what I called her & she surprised me when she called me her daughter. Not a day passed that month in January where we had not exchanged these words, “Urimwiza!” And she truly was… is beautiful, both inside and out.
The saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me…” is probably true for a different scenario, but in this experience, words had a lasting impact and it made all the difference.
If no one has yet told you today then I’m more than happy to remind you of this simple but very significant truth… “Urimwiza! You’re beautiful.”
