Have you ever thought to yourself, “I don’t think I could love this person, they are just too difficult to love. They’re so annoying and frustrating.”
This thought must have run through my head too many times to count this month. The past three weeks here in Ecuador, team TONKA and I have been serving with a ministry called COVi which stands for Centro Opcíon de Vida which translates to Center for the Option of Life. This center works with kids who are at risk and if it weren’t for COVi these kids would likely be spending most of their time on the streets getting into Lord knows what. The kids come in two groups, a morning group and an afternoon group. The kids that come in the morning have school in the afternoon from roughly 1pm-5pm and the afternoon kids have school in the morning from roughly 8am-12pm. We have absolutely loved working at COVi this month!
BUT…there’s always a but isn’t there??
Let me tell you, these kids are quite a handful!
Just imagine 20-30 kids, who probably don’t have the best home lives, with probably not the greatest disciplinary figures in their lives, running around, fighting with each other, and kind of just doing whatever they feel like doing. If you’re any kind of middle school employee, like my mother, you probably know what this looks like. Now add in the fact that there is a language barrier and sometimes the only words you know how to say are no and please.
Don’t get me wrong though, there are those kids that are just so adorable and really such great kids! For example, meet The two Dillon’s:
These boys are some of the most adorable and well behaved kids at COVi and are just so much fun to be around!
Now meet Alejandro aka Chino:
Chino is one of the kids that I mentioned earlier. Many times he has a poor attitude while playing soccer and very often you catch him fighting with other kids.
Now this is what I have come to the conclusion of with both of these types of children:
All you need is love.
This is how I’ve come to that conclusion.
With the two Dillon’s, it’s nearly impossible not to love them. I mean just look at them! Your heart just practically melts at their smile! I just want to throw both of them in my backpack and bring them on the rest of the race with me. They just love the junk out of you and are so well behaved. And because of that, its so easy to return the love and enjoy being around them!
Now look at Chino. You can kind of just see that devilish look in his eyes sometimes! And he is just one of this kids that I have found it very hard to connect with over the past 3 weeks. But this is what I’ve realized with him just the other day. The other day he and another boy got in to a little argument. I have no idea what it was about because I had no idea what they were saying to each other but just by the tone of their voice, their body language, and their actions, you could tell that there was something going on. They began throwing popcorn at each other during snack time and talking trash to each other (at least that’s what I’m assuming it was). So Sam and myself began stepping in and telling them to stop acting that way (with what little Spanish we had in order to do so), but it never seemed to do much. Then finally, as the other boy was laying on the ground, Chino walked up to him and put his foot over his face as if he was going to step on his face. That was the last straw for me, so I grabbed Chino by the arm, walked him away from the group of kids and with as much passion as I had in me for this kid, I said “Chino, no mas! Por favor!” (Chino, no more! Please!). He looked at me with that cool kid, devilish look, and said, “Yeah, yeah.” And walked away. I had no idea if what I said to him actually took root but all I could do was hope.
The rest of that day I didn’t see Chino get in anymore major arguments and for one of the first times this month he actually wanted to interact with me. He came up to me at soccer and grabbed my hands (could have just been trying to distract me since we were on separate teams but still!), and even invited me to play marbles with him during some free time. And then finally he stood up in front of all of the kids during devotional time and said that he was thankful for all of us and the way that we love him and play with him.
BOOM!
Heart. Melted.
Now here is the parallel that I have drawn from this.
When it comes to our relationship with God, at times we are the Dillon’s and other times we are the Chino’s. Sometimes we are just so adorable and such a joy to be around but then other times we are just little stinkers and just a downright pain in the butt. Now with that, there are times where it is easy for us to see God’s love because He just loves having fun with us and playing with us and always enjoys our company. But then there’s those other times, where in order to show us love, He has to show us some discipline with as much passion for us as He has because He really just wants to see the best for us!
This is what I want to challenge you with.
1. Always press into the love of the Father because sometimes it’s easy for you to see His love because you are being a Dillon and sometimes it’s hard to see His love because you are being a Chino but it’s only because He wants to see a better you that He is loving you that way. And when He sees you receive His love that way, His heart just melts!
2. Even if you think there is someone that you just can’t see yourself loving because they are just too frustrating or annoying, show them that love because it could completely change their demeanor towards you!
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
-John 15:12
