Today my friend, Mfanuthini (I call him Fountain), handed me a letter as we were leaving for our last day of ministry here in Swaziland.
He wrote about a story someone had once told him, so I am going to summarize the story for the sake of your time 🙂
The story is about a mother, who only has one eye, and her son. Throughout the son’s lifetime he repeatedly yells hatred things at his mother out of embarrassment. He gets made fun of for having a mother with only one eye, so he takes it out on her. He tells her he hates her. When he has his own children, he doesn’t let his mother see them. Eventually, his mother dies. After his mother’s death, he finds out the reason she only has one eye is because she had given him hers. He had a disease when he was young and lost his own eye, so his mom sacrificed her own for him.
After this story Fountain wrote me, “With all my love to you, may God continue to bless you for the time you were giving me and asking me what did I learn day by day. Your time to me was like the eye that mother gave to her son. Thank you.”
WOW
After reading this I was speechless.
Something Fountain and I had done each day after ministry was discuss what God had taught/spoken/reminded us.
I never knew how much these conversations had meant to him.
So with this letter in hand, I began thinking about my time here in Swaziland.
The word success came to mind.
The funny thing, though, is that I have realized I have an entirely new definition of success.
I used to believe success meant having a degree, a good job, owning a house, a car, having a family, and overall seeming to have life figured out.
But now, a redefined definition of success: To follow God’s greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:37-39
“Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment,. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
I have decided success simply looks like love. Loving God, loving his creation, loving his people.
In Swaziland, doing mostly children ministry, we don’t necessarily get to see “results” of our ministry. Most of the kids don’t even speak English. With an American cultural lens this sounds pretty unsuccessful. We can’t directly teach them about the Bible, we can’t share our testimonies without a translator, we can’t talk about obedience. Are we really doing anything?
But you know what the Lord has taught me?
A simple hug can stir the biggest smiles.
A cheesy smile can turn a child’s dark day into a bright one.
A piggy back ride can remind kids that life is fun.
Being held can show kids they are not a burden.
Brushing tears from a child’s eyes may convey it is okay to feel.
Tickling a bloated tummy can show physical touch is not always bad.
God is in all of these things.
Love is in all of these things.
Ministry doesn’t mean immediate results.
Ministry doesn’t always mean teaching, or sharing.
Ministry can simply be loving like Jesus.
As my team and I move from Swaziland to Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa I just ask that you be praying for us. Today, saying goodbye to these kids we have built such strong relationships with was hard. We walked away with tears in our eyes, but thankfulness in our hearts. We are leaving this beautiful place, but we have the amazing privilege of entering a new place. A place where God will teach us even more about him, will reveal himself in new ways, and where we will be challenged and made uncomfortable all over again. I can not wait to fall in love there too. We are praying for soft hearts, though we know another goodbye will come in a month. We pray for renewed spirits, as we are pretty exhausted. We pray for safety, as we travel almost 25 hours this week.
And we pray for Swaziland, that the kingdom continues to grow.
