Dear Romania,
I love that you love vegetables as much as I do. Also, thank you for the bright sunshine you sometimes give us on these increasingly cold days since I was prepared for 11 months of summer and not two months of winter.
Te pup! Rachel
Yes, that just happened.
What also just happened was I visited the Romanian vegetable market on Saturday. Rows and rows of fresh produce were displayed before me, and for just a couple leis (3 leis=$1) I could buy kilograms of eggplants, watermelon, peppers, and tomatoes. The pig heads, ribs, and live ducks were around a corner I felt no need to visit.
While the market was a cool experience, what stood out from the morning was the man at the Penny Market, the local grocery store. We had stopped in order to supplement our load of vegetables with processed carbs.
I was people-watching and vegetable-guarding while my teammates shopped. A man walked by me with his bag of groceries, and a coin fell out of his pocket. He looked at the coin that had fallen and continued walking.
I proceeded to watch person after person walk past the coin. Some looked down and saw the coin and still kept walking. The coin was not valuable to anyone.
So here I was standing in a grocery store feeling bad for an abandoned coin, and I realized that I could relate to the coin. The times just in the last four months that I had questioned the importance of the ministries I was doing popped into my mind.
What impact does braiding a little girl’s hair in Honduras have?
How futile was it to sew and ducktape therapy mats, just to have them rip again, for an orphanage in Guatemala?
Did I make a difference when I sang songs with the students and passed out coloring pages at the school in Nicaragua?
And now, am I helping the Romanian contacts by sorting emails, making videos, and teaching English to teenagers?
These actions are coins. The face value might be menial. The worth might be disregarded. But purpose exists within these coins. And it adds up to something beautiful and priceless.
The key is to understand the value. Find purpose in everything that is done.
Let us understand not only the value of our actions, but also the value of ourselves. We have a purpose only we can fulfill.
Time is not limitless, so spend every moment
doing something crazy
making an impact
trying something new
loving others
living for God’s glory
And know that someone notices the coins you drop—leaving the room a little more valuable than when you entered.
