This week, I have been learning what pure joy looks like; having joy while walking through the rain, having joy while cleaning and organizing, having joy while unknotting a hammock made out of T-shirt yarn, having joy while playing soccer with the kids, having joy while receiving face paints from the kids, finding joy in doing the things that might go unnoticed, and just finding joy in the little things.
I’ve been learning what pure joy looks like from the children that we’ve been helping with at the organization, Ciudad Refugio. From Thursday to Saturday, we go up to a town called Manantiales; there we spend time with the kids that live there. Manantiales has the 2nd largest population of displaced people in Colombia. This City of brokenness is a home to some of the most beautiful children. These children, when they come to the program that we have for them, get to forget about their problems for a couple of hours. For those couple of hours, they get to be real children; real children that get to make mistakes, that don’t have to worry about when they will get their next meal, that don’t have to worry about taking care of their brothers and sisters because their parents are out working all day, but they get to be their true selves as they play and simply have fun. Seeing their inner child come out, while they’re playing soccer or basketball, or just getting to hang out with us is the most amazing thing.
One of the most amazing moments that I’ve experienced is with a little boy named Felipe. Felipe is a little 6-year old boy; this little boy is not very talkative, and doesn’t smile all too much, but he is the sweetest little thing. One day, I decided to give him a piggyback ride, but what I didn’t know was that Felipe LOVES piggyback rides. Once he was on my back, his face lit up. I spun him around as fast as I could, and I could hear him laughing the hardest I had ever heard him laugh. His smile was the biggest grin I had ever seen. This was his moment of Pure Joy. A moment where Felipe could forget about all his problems and be a true kid for a little bit.
Another moment of Pure Joy that I got to experience with a kid, was with an 8-year old boy. His name is Camillo and he is Felipe’s big brother. Camillo is a little boy that I have gotten to spend a good amount of time with. The first day we went to Manantiales and spent time with the kids, is when I met Camillo. Camillo, likes to pick the fruit from the trees that are in the gated area where the program is held and eat it, but they are not allowed to do this. He was a little bit upset that he wasn’t allowed to do this, so he was hesitant about coming to the classroom for worship. At the start Camillo didn’t want to do anything, he just stood there with his arms crossed. But then, one of his favorite songs came on. His face lit up as he started singing and dancing around, I joined him in dancing around, and for him, it felt like at that moment he got to forget about the fruit that he couldn’t have on the tree, and all the other things going on in his life, and just be. He could do whatever he wanted to do, and be whoever he wanted to be.
Finding true joy in the little things has been so fun to me, especially getting to see the joy Jesus brings in other people. Seeing pure joy is amazing and it is a way Christ flows out of us, because we get to have that peace and trust in Jesus that he is working everything for a greater purpose.
This is Camillo 🙂
