Admiration (n.)-delighted or astonished approbation
Guess???
It has many colors.
It is light yet strong.
You can easily hide it.
It comes in handy.
It’s good for hiding skittles.
Some say any man can wear it.
Others say it’s a murse. (Insert movie quote: “It’s a satchel but thanks for noticing!”)
Answer: Chachra (Ngobe for satchel)
It’s also a representation: a representation of love. A representation of a love that keeps on giving. A representation of the person I want to become. A representation of Jesus Himself. There He was. In the bed of a truck traveling down a long, bumpy road. And I was lucky enough to be sitting next to Him.
We packed up our belongings at the end of ministry today and said our goodbyes to the beautiful people of the Ngobe tribe. The church we are currently working with is located high above San Felix and takes about an hour of travel to get there. It is full of wild foliage, cold springs and breathtaking people. The moment we stepped onto their rich, clay soil my heart felt full. I wasn’t quite sure why. But I believe I’m getting closer to understanding why this love poured out of me almost instantaneously.
I had the pleasure of riding in the back of the truck with two older gentlemen. They are Ngobe and speak the native language(what Spanish and German would sound like if combined). Needless to say, we didn’t exchange any words, just gentle smiles and a simple, “Hello. How are you?”. When we reached their destination, I noticed the man to my left cleaning out his chachra. I didn’t think anything of it, until he handed it to me.
“For me?”, I asked reluctantly. “Si, si, si!”, he replied. “Really?”, I asked with an empathetic look on my face. He responded with a mere wave and a “Hasta manana!”. I waved feverishly back at him until they were out of sight. In that moment, I knew I had seen Jesus.
His name is Sieriano and he lives like most of the Ngobe people do; on a dirt floor with several family members. Smoke fills their lungs at night with a fire burning in the center of their plywood/tin homes. Bites torment their beautiful cafe colored skin and create painful sores. But Sieriano does not dwell on what causes him grief. He dwells on what God has provided. Not only does he dwell in the Lord, but he shares it with others. God calls us to be servants because He was/is the ultimate steward.
It may just be a bag or “murse” to some, but I will wear this chachra as a reminder of what true selflessness looks like.
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-Melody Beattie
