The Little Things
I am writing this as I sit in my living room in Haiti watching 12 kids (our older kids, ages 12-17) watch a movie on our new 22 inch television. There are 2 children sitting together in a small loveseat, 6 kids crowded onto a sofa, 3 kids sitting on the tile floor, and 1 child sitting in one of our dining room seats. There is no air conditioning, it is about 92 degrees outside, and they are watching Pippi Longstocking. If you are reading this and you have children that age, think about what they would be thinking…
They would be complaining about the lack of air conditioning (just like I was approximately 2o minutes ago), they would wonder why we were watching a movie from like 40 years ago, and they would be complaining about not having a place to sit…
Guess how our children are acting…
They are acting like it is the greatest thing ever. Actually, as I type this, they are almost rolling on the floor in laughter and joy because it is so fun for them. They are smiling, talking, laughing, and when we gave them the bottle of coke and small bag of popcorn just a few minutes ago, they almost inhaled them.
Times like this, when we are away from the other kids and other adults that are constantly at the orphanage, and we get them alone, we get to see that they are just children. They are children who need to be loved and cared for and given different opportunities to grow and succeed. We told these children (they are our table captains during meal time) that if they perform their duties as table captains and leaders of the orphanage for 3 months, we would take them into the market and give them 600 gourdes (Haitian currency) to buy a new pair of soccer shoes or sandals. This is about 12 american dollars. Their faces lit up like it was Christmas just at the thought of being able to come with us into the market and spend a little bit of money.
I don’t really have a spiritual point to this blog other than the joy that you can see in our children’s faces at these new and different opportunities in their life. They are being taken care of in a different way than they ever have before and it is fun to see them grow and mature in this way. It makes us look at the things we have with a new outlook. The joy we should feel in GOD when He allows us to enjoy something new and different, or even when He reminds us of His love with something we enjoy all of the time. It just reminded me that I complain about silly things and miss the joy and blessing that GOD gives me every day when I get to eat a meal, drive our truck, or even wake up in a bed each morning. It is fun to be reminded of this as I sit watching our children watch Pippi Longstocking like it is the greatest movie ever made. I hope to always be reminded of the things GOD gives us each day that should fill our hearts with joy.