This is my first Christmas away from home. I’m not going to lie; it’s difficult. I miss my family. I miss our little traditions. But, I know the Lord has me here for a reason. I think one of those reasons was last night. Through talking to the girls in our house, the Lord has opened my eyes to see how truly blessed I am and how much I take it for granted.
It’s summer time here in Chile so yesterday after dinner we had watermelon. I was really happy because watermelon means summer memories for me. So, I was thinking about river and lake days with friends when one of the girls in the house said she hadn’t had watermelon in 3 years. And, immediately all I could think was wow. They weren’t able to afford watermelon because it’s a luxury, but to my friends and I, on lake day, we think of it as a necessity.
Later that night, our team talked about how blessed we truly are with things we don’t even think about. One of the girls on our team mentioned that back home when they have pool parties, they put vaseline on a watermelon and play keep away. It’s a funny game because it’s hard to hold the watermelon when it’s so slippery. And, it’s really common in the States. But, she was like, what if one of the girls from our house here in Chile saw that? What would they think? Something they can’t afford to eat, we are throwing around in a game.
That same night, after we had watermelon, we had a time for prayer requests. A different girl from the house asked us to pray for her cousin. He and his wife are in the United States illegally, and his wife had a baby. Since their child was born in The United States, he is a US citizen, but his parents are not. They are currently trying to become citizens, but it is a long and difficult process. The prayer was that their family didn’t get separated, and that they were able to stay in the United States.
I understand that we have immigration laws for a reason, and I support the process of immigrating legally. I have also heard some very heavy hearted parents talk about the pain of being separated from their children. Parents who are now unable to see their children for multiple years because of the money it takes to travel to them, and the time it takes to get a visa. Parents who wanted better lives for their children so they risked breaking the law. Wouldn’t you risk that too if it meant your kids could grow up in a country as privileged as The United States? Where they could have blessings they would never even dreamt of in their home countries.
Thinking about all of that made me realize, we can say some pretty nasty things when we are talking about immigration issues, sitting in our nice houses with crown moulding, watching Fox. But, if we knew those people we are talking about, if we were face to face with them, hearing their stories, would we still have that same audacity? At the end of the day, yes it is breaking the law, and yes there are ways to enter The U.S. legally. But, we should still have the compassion to see where they are coming from. Being mean is always cheap and easy, especially when it is about someone who will never hear what you said.
That’s what the Lord is teaching me right now. That everything that’s in my heart is going to come out of my mouth. That I can say something about someone who is never going to hear me, and I can say it doesn’t matter because it can’t hurt them. But if its in my heart, if it’s mean or judgmental, thats what I have in my heart.
Psalm 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
