When was the last time you truly looked at someone? Most of us look at people but don’t see them. I find it easy to not truly look at faces sometimes because it’s easier. I don’t speak Spanish and most of the people in my world usually don’t speak English. It’s easier to politely smile at them and go on. If I stop and really look they assume I speak their language. This leads to an awkward non-conversation where they try to talk to me and I have to politely tell them I have no Spanish outside of Hola.
I found myself not engaging as much as I usually do this month. It’s not that I didn’t want to talk. I think it’s because people in other countries I’ve been to don’t assume I speak their language. But here in Nicaragua most people I have run into do. As usual it was the kids that I am constantly surrounded by that showed me the way. 
We ate all our meals at the orphanage next door to us. The kids were always around. They didn’t care what language I spoke. They didn’t even care that I had no idea what they were saying. One little boy always came and sat with me. He would sit and talk to me in Spanish at breakfast. He would look at the pictures of my family in my bible and would ask questions about them. He would then tell me all sorts of things. No, I don’t know what he said. But we had a good time every morning. On Sundays he would sit with me at church and “listen” to the service.
We went to a barrio or poor neighborhood near our house a few times to minister and hang out. Again it was the kids that showed up with huge smiles and no English. It was wonderful. Our Nicaraguan friends would tell them about Jesus and we got to play with the kids and pray over them. Two little boys drew circles in the dirt and I had to jump into them. It was kind of a giant game of hopscotch. These to kids kept drawing circles and I kept jumping into them. This went on for a very long time and about a hundred yards. So many faces and none of them cared what I said. They just wanted me to spend time with them. This really made me stop and think about how, and if I was showing God’s love to the people around me.
One place I worked a long time ago I decided to greet every person I came in contact with in a day. This looked different for every person. Some would be nothing more than a nod or a smile. While others would be an inquiry of how they were doing that day. 
After doing this for about a year I changed jobs. The one thing I heard the most out of people was how much they were going to miss my greeting them everyday. For most of them I did nothing more than a hello. But this made such a difference in the day of the people receiving that “hi”. One person told me that one of the things they looked forward to everyday was my stopping by. I was only there for two minutes most days. But it made such a difference in there day.
I have decided to recommit to seeing the faces of the people around me. It doesn’t matter if it’s the little girl selling trinkets on the street or my fellow racers. This takes effort but I guess when you think about it, purposeful life always does.
