“I Want to Live Like That”

“Sometimes I think, what will people say of me, when I’m only just a memory,”

“Was I love, when no one else would show up, was I Jesus to the least of us, was my worship more than just a song.”

should not share any details about her family we are going to call her MeiMei (meaning little sister). MeiMei’s mother was researching a condition MeiMei has that causes her to loose her hair. As she was researching, MeiMei walked in, and saw a picture on the computer screen of a little girl without hair. The picture happened to be from the Locks of Love Website. MeiMei shared with her mother how sad she was that the little girl didn’t have hair, and how she wanted to do something about it. Well, MeiMei’s hair is prized. Her hair is long, black and beautiful, but it is also prized in that she has the same condition as the girl without hair, and she may, in the future, be without hair herself. Yet, MeiMei asked her mom many times if she could give her hair to the little girl, because she didn’t want the girl to be sad. Her mom tried to put it off, but MeiMei insisted. So, with the mildly trembling hands of her mother, MeiMei’s hair was cut, and now she talks of the girl who will be happy, because she can have hair like MeiMei’s.
 
 

 
 
I found it, the answer to my description of God heart for “the least of these.” I did not have to finish an extensive timeline debunking the image of God of wrath vs. God of peace, and I didn’t write a 15-page analysis of scripture (although I am not discrediting these methods of study). I found my answer in a little girl who 2 years ago I would have considered to be one of “the least of these,” whose heart is so strong that now; I can only see her as an image of our Father’s love.
 
 

 
 
I sit in my grandma’s living room; looking out the window to a chair I have watched age over the years. It occasionally changes locations, and has been painted over a few times in it’s many years, but only so much can hide the weathering of it’s frail frame. It’s structure, well; it’s quite un-sturdy these days. I would not recommend entrusting it with an afternoon nap. It has more so become a vintage piece to exemplify the beauty of the world that grows and changes around it. In the last few weeks I have put a lot of thought and prayer into my lack of ability to be part of this incredibly ministry ahead. The circumstances are quite similar to when I left for China, I am un-qualified, I am at times afraid of the amount of surrender I know is ahead, and many people, whose opinions matter greatly to me, are not happy about my decision.  Yet, I watch the life that lives on around the bench, and realize I want to be a part of the ever-changing world around it. I want to be part of God’s glorious ministry around the world, rather than a withering chair, an image of something never lived. So, I’m grabbing the scissors from reluctant hands, and standing up from the withering chair, and taking on the persistent heart of a little girl who put aside her own struggles, to love a child she will may never meet, because she saw something wrong and did what she could to make it right. I am beginning a journey of surrender early (I was getting impatient anyways), by putting aside the doubts, concerns, and uncertainties. So, family and friends who have disapproving thoughts, I know I can not fully share with you my heart, but allow me to say “at last I just have to do it,” and I know God will do a work in both of our hearts along the way. I have learned from a child, who society sees as the “least of these” what child like faith can truly be, and I am ready to be a child in faith for the “least of these” through a father who died for me.