Whilst in Nicaragua, (in March) I tutored the children at El Ayudante. On Thursdays, I tutored a small group of young women, Deanna, Chillo, and her twin sister Ivanya.
With only three classes and no curriculum, I did what any teacher would do: bring real objects to class, teach them the English word for said objects, and then use them in the lesson. I asked myself, “What objects do I have with me that 16 and 18 year olds are into?” An answer quickly popped into my head: scarves, sunglasses, nail polish, and earrings.
Armed and ready, I asked the young women to take a seat at the table. I told them that we’d be having a photoshoot, but before we snapped some cool shots, we had to prepare.
We painted our nails, Ivanya braided my hair, and I gave each woman a pair of my earrings, including a pair of opal earrings that was gifted to me which I truly, truly enjoyed wearing. (I thought I was going to wear these earrings at my wedding someday, I liked them so much.)
The young ladies asked where each pair was from, and in my broken Spanish I mentioned the origins of each pair of earrings, and I emphasized that I really, really liked them.
With our “hair did”, nails painted, and ears full of gorgeous earrings, we went out in the ‘backyard’ to take some sweet photos. At first, the ladies weren’t really into it; but once they were pushed to pose, they had a lot of fun.
After all of the shots were snapped, “class” ended, and I left the ladies to go to the Center to spend time with the rest of the kids. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized: I never got my earrings, scarf and sunglasses back from the ladies.
For a day, a question traveled back and forth in my head like a tennis ball on the court:
Do I awkwardly tell the young women that I wanted my stuff (including my very precious gifted earrings) back?
OR
Do I let it all go and let them keep all of my stuff?
I continued to wrestle for two days with myself, with God, and with my desires; and ultimately, decided to not say anything to the young women, therefore, letting them keep my stuff. I could tell that although they didn’t outwardly express it, they really enjoyed wearing my scarf, sunglasses and earrings.
Transparently speaking, initially, it was hard to give my stuff up, especially since it was my last scarf and most of my earrings. But as the days continued on and I saw all of the young women wearing the earrings with smiles on their faces, I felt more peace that I made the right decision, and I was truly happy to see them so happy.
And what about my highly- valued earrings? Well they found a better home through Miss Ivanya’s ear lobes. Every time I saw her wearing the earrings she looked stunning and was so happy. I realized again and again it was totally worth giving them to her.
Frankly speaking, my experience of giving what I really treasured away was a very, very small example of how Jesus gave himself to us and for us. What I’m trying to say is, just like I enjoyed seeing Miss Ivanya rock my highly treasured earrings, Jesus really, really enjoys seeing us being cloaked in and rock His Perfect Righteousness.
You see, Jesus Himself was clothed in righteousness, and He wanted to share it with anyone and everyone. He wanted (and still wants) every single person on earth to experience His goodness, and also experience a living and loving relationship with His Father, God Himself. He came down to earth to share this with us, but we, including His disciples, didn’t really get it at first.
It was when Jesus died on the cross, therefore cloaking each and every one of us in all of His Beauty and Righteousness, He knew (and still knows) and believed (and still believes), that you and I were worth the surrender of His own life to the Father’s will, even if that meant He would be mocked, beaten, pierced with nails, would hang on a cross for hours, would go to the depths of hell, and would be separated from that perfect union with His Father for that period of time, until finally He could finally be reunited with His Father as He conquered death and rose up from the grave.
Before the beginning of time, Jesus looked at each one of His children (including you and me) and said to Himself, “They are worth it. They are special. They are precious to me. I want them to have a relationship with my Father like the relationship that I have with Him. I want them to be reunited with their Father. I will fight for them. All of what I’ll face on earth is worth me giving my life to them and for them.”
That, my friends, is some crazy love.
That’s the Gospel.
This is news that should be, no, NEEDS to be shared.
My prayer for you today, in this very moment, is if you don’t yet know and believe that Jesus died for you, that you could live a life in a relationship with God Himself, that you WOULD know that, and that you WOULD and DO believe that (because it’s the Truth.)
Jesus loves you more in a moment than I or anyone else could love you in a lifetime.
You can experience this crazy love right now. All you’ve got to do is invite Him into your heart.
You could say something like, “Jesus, I just read that you could love me more in a moment than anyone else could in a life time. I would like to experience this love. I want to invite you into my heart, Jesus, and I want to receive your love. Help me do this. Please show me your goodness.”
May you have a day full of recognition of God’s Blessings.
With His Love,
-Kim
