There is beauty in everything. In nature, in the arts, and in the faces of every single human being. Whether or not we allow ourselves to see it is our choice.
God has really been pushing me to see the beauty in people. Anyone who knows me well knows that children are not my forte. I am not that patient and kids energy can wear me out in a matter of minutes. My ministry here I have been working with many, many kids. There’s the preschool, the orphanage, and on river ministry we did a kids bible school. Then on top of that the kids in our neighborhood never leave us alone. Just like back in America I tolerated the kids but there were very few children I really liked. At the preschool once school was out I was relieved because I knew I would be able to go back to the house and get an hour or two of time to use as quiet time with God. That way I could regain my energy after the craziness.
When the time came to switch ministry’s from the preschool to the orphanage. I decided I needed to go in with a different outlook. I prayed that I could go into this ministry with an open heart. God has shown me that if I try to see each individual in the way he sees them I can love them for their little quirks that make them who they are. Seeing people in a godly way has really change my perspective on the beauty of us. Seeing how brightly a welcoming smile of a child is or the sweet innocence of a shy smirk warms my heart. I truly started to love the kids there. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in Him, each and everyone of us. That’s what is so beautiful about people and if that’s not beauty I don’t know what is. He put so much thought into what we would look like, our mannerisms, and our talents. No one was excluded when he said that.
Today I came back from river ministry. One of the little boys in the neighborhood Emilio who I hadn’t seen in 3 weeks came running up to me and cried, “Mona.” (his nickname for me which is monkey in Spanish because apparently I eat lots of bananas). He gave me the biggest hug a little five year old can give and I picked him up in my arms and he says “te amo” and kissed me on the cheek. Even though he is such a smelly, mischievous little boy who wipes his boogers on everyone I still wanted to hug him and I cherished his love. I thought that’s kind of how God is to us. Even though we come to him with our messiness of our sin he still takes us in with no hesitation. He is a God who wants to love on us and when we love on him it means more to Him than we realize, except his love is insanely stronger than my love will ever be. Without knowing the beauty of Gods love in how we are created I would have a very hard time with my ministry here in Peru, but with God it’s simple and it’s not so hard.
