Have you ever had 10 cans of paint, a few paintbrushes, and a mural and invited every single kid in the community to come paint?
What if you told them they could use whatever color? And they could put their handprint wherever they wanted?
What if you put paint on your face, and started a color war?
That’s exactly what we did on Wednesday.
When we first walked into Llano in September, one of the first things we noticed was a big red, graffiti covered wall in the corner of the village. It was completely plain, with a open area in front of it. It was practically BEGGING to be painted! And I was practically begging to paint it!
The first opportunity we got, we took it. And a few weeks ago we began the painting process for a large mural featuring the mountains, an appearance from Acatenango, a big sun and flowers along the bottom. I came up with a design and showed my team. We got the tined owner on board. We painted the base layer of paint, painted the mountains. The sky. Did some detailing. Originally, the idea was to have “flowers” across the bottom of the mural and up the sides. We wanted the kids to use their hands for the petals and it was going to be all artsy and neat.
That’s not how things happened at all.
We had an array of colors spread out through different paint cans. We had red, white, blue, pink, purple, orange, green, yellow, and probably mixed a few more in the process. With only 7 of us and maybe 20ish kids, things quickly got out of hand, but in the BEST way. All of the kids started painting colors upon colors on their hands and running to the mural to put their hands on it. This was just the calm before the storm because after I got paint on Carlos’s face, the kids very quickly realized they could put PAINT anywhere- including each other.
Paint got on faces. Paint got in hair. Paint covered our clothes and arms. Paint was thrown, splattered, and tossed. Paint was literally everywhere.
It may sound like a mess, but I wish I could explain the joy that absolutely radiated from around this wall. These kids ran around laughing their lungs out, smiling, and painting with each other. I wish I could explain the freedom that surrounded us. I wish I could explain just how full my heart felt.
Each day these kids walk by the mural, I hope they remember this day. I hope they remember the joy and the laughter. I hope they remember the freedom they felt getting to put any color they wanted on their hand and putting it somewhere on this wall. I hope they remember the day they got to run around with their friends and have the time of their life! I hope that one day they will learn that the same childlike joy and freedom they felt on this day can be found in the Father every. single. day.
The mural doesn’t look like how we imagined it. It looks even better.
I think a lot of times that is kind of like how our lives feel like with God. A lot of times things don’t really turn out how we imagine them but thanks to God, they are even better than anything we could’ve come up with. Part of my heart is on this mural. Part of my heart is in this little village. Dang, I like this feeling.
