Saturday, my team and I said one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve ever experienced to the kids at the orphanage. We cried a lot of tears, shared a lot of hugs, and gave each other little pieces of our hearts. My heart physically and emotionally ached, but it was one of the most beautiful heartaches I’ve ever endured. I would not change it.
The heartache stemmed from 3 weeks living and loving to the fullest, from hours upon hours of sweat and songs and playing games. It came from the struggles our team faced and overcame to countless bowls of rice shared to memories made together. It came from singing that one song we already sang like 20 times just one time more because it would make someone’s day and from spinning children around in our arms even though we were so dizzy we could puke.
The heartache came from receiving pure, genuine love from tons of little ones in the form of flowers and pictures drawn, in their little voices excitedly squealing “teacher, teacher!” and from watching countless handstands, cartwheels, dance moves, and more as these kids just wanted us to share life together. It came from letting dozens of sweaty, dirty hands cling to any part of our arms or legs they could find and walking around a village together. It came from running through rice fields, swimming in water-ways, and taking bike rides together. It came from night-time devotions and worshipping in 2 different languages; from goodnight hugs and English classes and scavenger hunts. It came from becoming a family. The heartache stemmed from having given all we had to give, from loving with all the love we had been given, and then from having received the exact same from the kids.
The beautiful, heartache we felt came from something deeper than an experience to be pinpointed; it came from a giving of our lives to one another, from loving one another.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
These children and my team? We gave up our lives for each other, but we also gave our lives to each other. We experienced that greater love. And there is nothing in this world that can compare to it; there are not words for it. When you leave having experienced a love like that, your heart is going to hurt a little bit, but it’s a hurt I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Next stop, I’m heading to South Africa, and I’m so excited to share the greater love that God has loved me with in a new place! Until next time,
~Kat~
