A Day Off for a World Racer

Saturday.

A day off from ministry.

 A time to rest and spend time with God.

And I’m sitting outside getting my hair braided by two little Tanzanian hair dressers, Mary and Sharon. To clarify, they aren’t really hair dressers; they are both under the age of 5. However, they had enough determination to braid my hair the same way as their mothers and the women they spend all of their time with. But to no avail. My extremely white person hair would not cooperate and stay braided. The thing I loved about it was that Mary and Sharon weren’t waiting for the finished product, they were enjoying the process,
And I was too.

It made my day to just sit outside with them and look at the trees, the sky, the clouds, and to feel the nice breeze winding through the buildings of our compound. Sharon and Mary were chattering away in Swahili, a language that I have yet to master, so I was just enjoying the moment. Then, out of nowhere, close to my left ear, I heard a whisper:

“I love you.”

At first I thought I misheard what was said, but then I heard it again. “I love you,” Mary whispered in my ear again.

“I love you.” I responded.

Mary and Sharon laughed and then continued doing my hair and talking in the only language they know. My “I love you” was in some ways asked as a question. I hadn’t heard an English word out of either of them until this point. I had barely heard a Swahili word out of them. But they said it. They said they love me. And even though I was taken off guard and still wonder if I misheard them, I love them too.

I think children are a lot more skilled in the art of loving people than most adults. They love people in the everyday things and don’t wait for some big event like Valentine’s Day, a birthday, or a mission trip to profess their love for people. God says that the kingdom of God belongs to the children and I think it is because children are excellent at loving people and, without love God says we don’t have anything. I got to be a part of that today because I had the opportunity to slow down and I chose to create the opportunity to play with Mary and Sharon.

I thought by spending time with Mary and Sharon I could show them how much Jesus loves them. I forgot that I would see how much Jesus loved me through them.

Mary and Sharon

Me and Mary