My team and I decided that instead for going somewhere as a team for Valentine’s Day we would throw the girls of the orphanage a party. We planned for about 3 days for this party that would only last about 2 hours. But the time we put into this event would shape us as a team. Is wasn’t one person fighting over who got to do what job, it was everyone using their gifts and talents in the best way possible. We all took part in this one event. There were times of frustration when the walls would not become clean and times of joy when everything fell into place. Over the course of the days leading up to Valentine’s Day we made a list of what we wanted to accomplish. Clean the walls, make decorations, clean the floors, get food and drinks, and love on the girls endlessly. This doesn’t seem like a hard task, its just cleaning up here and there yet when we started to clean everything just kept getting dirtier and dirtier. You couldn’t tell where we started or where we ended. Walls that were meant to be blue seemed to never look blue and floors that were supposed to be dirt free were never free. So on the day before Valentine’s Day my team and I choose to scratch the original plan and move on to a new space. See the thing about change last minute it can become overwhelming but the Lord already knew that we weren’t going to have the party where we originally wanted it. He knew that His plan would be way better than our plan.
The girls on my team are so willing to go where He leads that it pushes me to look at the grander picture. They made paper hearts from plates, they made signs of encouragement, they got down on their hands and knees and scrubbed dirty floors, they killed countless spiders, they washed down tables and they did it all with a servants heart. But this was only the prep work… God had greater things to come.
When Valentine’s Day finally arrived we were all excited to see how the girls would react. We had our doubts and fears but we still gave it our all. The time came for the girls to come over. The food station was perfect, the hair and beauty station was perfect, the art station was perfect, and the photo booth was perfect. As the girls came in one by one you could see their wondering eyes looking at all of the exciting things. Their faces were filled with joy because we chose to love on just them.
We didn’t do it because it was a holiday, it was simply because we wanted to love on them. To show them that they are loved, they are cherished and that God loves them even more than we do. The night was perfect! Our compound was filled with joy and laughter. My team showed love to these girls unconditionally. Even if they didn’t want their fingers painted; they did it. Even if they didn’t want lipstick that had been on twelve other peoples lips; they did it. Even if they didn’t want to get their picture taken; they did it. They truly showed these girls what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
