Look at that smile.
Burmese people are literally the most kindest & sweetest humans I have ever met. Like even just saying that doesn’t truly cover it. You just need to come to Myanmar and experience it yourself. One of my favorite things to do is to wave & smile at everyone I walk by and see here because the way their faces light up when you acknowledge them- will forever be engraved in my mind and bring joy to my heart. It’s the simple things. I’m going to get back to America and wave at so many strangers and probably get a few weird looks but ya know what- who cares. I’m learning just the simplicity of acknowledging someone, changes things.
The past two days we have been teaching English at an orphanage and oh my heart. Here are some pictures:
Also quick funny story. There was a miscommunication due to language barriers. We arrived at this orphanage the first day thinking we were only just hanging out and play with the kids. Turns out- they wanted us to teach English from 9-3. With some breaks in between. Ha ha! So the first day we totally winged it. You definitely learn to take anything thrown at you and run with it. You make it work. And it actually turned out great! But we definitely came prepared the next day 🙂 hahaha
These kids, so incredibly sweet, thoughtful, fun, full of joy & smiles, and SMART. To be honest, teaching English isn’t my favorite thing but teaching these kids has been such a joy and so much fun! The entire time I am there, there’s a smile on my face cause of these kids. But then I am reminded that they are orphans. I literally forget that I am at an orphanage when I am there because of these kids smiles & joy. It’s sad to know these kids are without their parents for many different reasons.The pastor we are working with this month- houses all these kids. You can clearly see that they are so grateful for what they have and you can tell they are loved because of their joy. They are so much more than an “orphan”. They are kind, smart, loving, thoughtful, silly, so much personality, respectful, etc. And that their future does NOT and will not be limited because of where they came from. They have so much potential and are more than capable of living the life God created them to live. Whatever home life we came from, whatever has happened to us in life: it never has the power to limit our future and what we are truly capable of.
Let the struggles you face refine you, not define you.
The smile of these kids teach me a lot about life.
Like how I have so much to be thankful for and yet theres little things that take the smile off my face. Like what am I really complaining about? What am I seeing as an inconvenience? Is it really that big of a deal compared to the grand scheme of things?!
The reality is, you & I have so much more compared to what these kids have and what a lot of people have around the world. We’ve (me included) often forget about the millions of blessings and things to be grateful for that are all around us. What a privileged life we live back in America. We really have SO much to be grateful for and a lot of the things that take the smile off our faces due to “inconvenience”. Things that aren’t even a reality in some of these countries.
You can do two things with the privileged life we have and all the blessings:
When we receive or experience anything short of what we are so privileged to have, we become ungrateful and off the smile from our faces go and we complain. We let little things frustrate us.
OR
Despite the “inconvenience” we realize that this life is exactly that, a privilege to live. And despite whatever circumstance, we focus on the many blessing around us and are grateful. Keeping that smile because we understand it’s not about the life we strive to make perfect but understand it’s a privilege to have what we are blessed with and will be thankful for it.
I know for me, I want to be better at truly being thankful for what I have and not let little things take the smile away from my face. Jesus has given me so much and I never could have imagined I’d be living the life I am. And despite the horrible things that happen in this world- this is a beautiful life and good things are happening all around us. So I challenge you- if little things remove the smile from your face, ask yourself
“Is it really that big of a deal?”
And I’m not trying to say we need to downplay hard things we go through, because we do go through some tough stuff. I just simply want to challenge me & you to pay more attention to what exactly it is that steals our smile & joy.
That’s all for now! If you got this far: Fist bump
Bye Bye for now, till next time!
Much love, T.
