It’s been a little over a week since I arrived in the beautiful town of Zomba Malawi. Everyday here has been just that.. Beautiful !
I’m greeted in the morning by some of the sweetest little faces that giggle and high five the “Mazungus” who have become a familiar face around town. They trail behind, in front and beside us for miles, barefoot with sugarcane in hand. Running through the mountains here can never get old.
Every free moment my team gets we find a mountain to climb. My eyes have caught sight of the most vibrant sunrises and sunsets they have ever seen. The clouds float around the mountains in the mornings and fog lifts off the land along with smoke from the coal lite fires. The sun comes up like a big ball of fire and instantly warms my skin and leaves the sky with an even more colourful exit.
” There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Conen
Each day we make our way to surrounding villages with a pastor and translator. We visit with families and share the gospel, encourage our brothers and sisters, pray for the sick and play with the children.
All I desire is to let Gods children know how much they are loved, precious, cherished and beautifully made. But honestly it has been a struggle trying to communicate to a child how their Daddy in heaven sees them when all they see is a blonde haired, white skinned, English speaking girl from Canada.
I see comparison all over their faces. It puts up a wall. Their eyes dart from my nice new bible I had picked up last month, to the coverless stack of torn and worn papers the pastor was holding. I quickly slide it into my backpack.
We continued to share with them about the sacrifice and love poured out for them because they are found so worthy of this love through his grace. Their eyes glance around at the foreign people sitting off the ground on a bench while their tiny little legs sit in the dirt covered in ants. I lowered myself off the chair down into the ants.
Someone shares about the good gifts God has waiting for his children and the hope of an inheritance with Him. I look beside me to see a group of little girls starring from my clothes, freshly washed and brightly colourful, to the fabric that covered their little bodies. The boys were shirtless making their big round bellies the centre of their gravity. The girls have T-shirts to big for their bodies to wear as dresses, with enough holes you could classify them as nets. I took my hands and pressed them into the red dirt, their eyes watching my every move. I picked up the dry dirt and dropped it on my pants. Their eyes got bigger
It seemed like there was nothing I could do to break the barrier I know these Children had subconsciously put up. We were talking about freedom but I felt their insecurities radiating from them.
We started to sing a song in Chichewa and that’s when it happened. I began to dance. I could tell these children all about freedom but unless they could feel it for themselves all they would see was another difference between me and them. I took my shoes off and let my feet glide through the tall grass and drift over the dusty ground. My arms stretched out and my finger tips moved along surrounding mountain tops. I looked around at the children who were now doing the same. Their focus no longer on me but the exhilarating affect freedom had over their bodies.
With every movement of freedom the labels began to fall off. Poor, dirty, hungry, worthless, unclean.
With every movement I saw the children wearing white garments of freedom, joy, happiness, love and praise.
And so we continued to dance and that’s when it happened.. The wall came down.
If God was taking delight in my ridiculous and quite elaborate movements, there was no doubt that all he saw when he looked at those children squealing, jumping and laughing was pure delight ! And they could feel it.
You have turned my morning into dancing – Psalm 30:11
You cannot love others unless you know how you are loved. You cannot teach someone about freedom unless you have been set free.
Let them praise his name with dancing Psalm 149:3
David was a king and yet he went down to be with the people in the city and he danced. He displayed to them the freedom he experience because of the love of his Father the best way he knew how.
It’s time to dance your whole life away. Your life my start to look a little awkward and different but it’s the only way to display the freedom that’s keeping you alive. Dance with your hands open ready to radically give all that you had away. Don’t let your feet stop moving because people stop to watch. Dance with your head up keeping the focus on your saviour who is the reason you move the way you do.
Dance so that others may be set free.
Sent from my iPod
