I open my eyes. This new day cracked through the sky to reveal the glorious sunlight. I hear my mother, my father… they are speaking to someone outside these mud walls. I hear my mother… joyous tears. My father… with a voice… different. I have not heard this sound from him before. Hope?
I hear the animals. We have two. The bleating goats… a milk provision. My brother and sister like to walk with them. I hear the stirring of the land. This land of ours used again and again, by my father and his friends… in hopes that it will yield… something… anything to give us a meal. I hear the gathering of my friends. It is time to walk for the gathering of our water.
The night is done. I am relieved. I am afraid in the night. The darkness smothers our two room hut. The sounds of the night here pierce my skin and frighten me. I pray for morning. I pray for the sun. This morning… different. I hear the voices. I sense… this change. Joy?
I smell the waste. Our village has no good place for waste. The smell of it rises with the sun. The heat burns the odors into the air. I have always known this smell. I wish I could wash it clean. My mother runs to wake me. I smell the salt of the tears on her cheeks.
Wake up
She whispers in my ear. I smell her warmth… the dirt driven deep into skin by years of labor. Working to keep us alive… fed… sheltered… clothed. We can not pay for school. I wish I could read. I have heard of others… a few… who have this chance. I have heard them speak of Jesus. I want to know this Jesus that they speak of.
someone has come!
someone sees us!
someone sees you!
They have come to tell my parents of a sponsor. Someone has seen me. Someone has chosen me. Someone has brought a new sound of hope to our life. Someone has brought a smell of joy to this home. Someone has seen us.
I follow my mother. To see this visitor. I see. I see the smile. The joy in my parents. I feel a hope. I have not known this hope before. I look into the eyes of our visitor. I see love. I see compassion.
C atch the ones who have fallen aside, unnoticed, alone, forgotten, afraid, hopeless
O ffer a hand, a heart, a hope
M ove the despair from the eyes… replace it with joy
P repare a new heart for a new faith… a new birth into a great Kingdom… the only Kingdom
A ccept the prompting from Him… a nudge… a beckoning to open hands… fully
S ee the person… the child… behind the suffering
S hare the love of Christ
I gnore the lies that it will not make a difference… every. one. matters. every. single. one.
O ffer a chance to learn… to leave the poverty behind
N urture a desperate soul… in desperate need… of love.
(photo credit – Compassion International)
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
