I know that this word to us has become so little. I don’t even really need to explain how we don’t really have a view of simplicity because we are always wanting more, rarely giving up.
I was sitting in church today and the pastor was preaching on faith and the ways that you can build your faith. Simplicity in the message, but refreshing to hear. He said something that make me think on a deeper level that just in and out. He said, “If God blesses us, and give gifts into our lives…then why aren’t we blessing the church and giving gifts to the church that much more?” Think about it for a second. Take away the building, the lights, the stage, all of what we typically think when someone says church, and begin to look around you. Begin to see the simplicity of who you are with. WHO you are with. Not what you are sitting on, not what you are seeing on stage, but the human beings on your left and right, front and back. So ultimately you are giving and blesses the body, the creation that the creator has given us to call “church.” Simply the people.
So, what is simplicity? What is living simply? We might sometimes see it as unhappiness, not enough, poor, an excuse or reason that we have come up with to justify our view of Americans living on less. Or do we see it as something that is truly beautiful, maybe even finding joy in these moments. That feeling of spring cleaning. That a life that is inside out, just simple. Not boring, but de-cluttered. Living on things that we NEED, not want. I know that this is said so often and lost so much in the translation of it being pounded into our heads if we grew up in church, but today the Lord reminded me of just how much and how necessary this life of simplicity is.
I know that this picture is just another reality that we tend to fly by and say how sorry and heart broken we are for these “people” inside (which may be true but is not as often acted on). We see this picture in every album from a mission trip, in the bulletin at church, in commercials on tv that remind us of what we are to be grateful for, or where our money should go overseas (which is good!) But reality is, when you put a face and family to that “someone” inside, it hits a lot harder.
When we begin to look past the idea that this is just another slum house and see that this is someone’s home. Somebody lives here. A family. Living only on what they need. Not all the excess. Not all the fluff.
Picture this idea… this backwards, a different perspective and view on “who” this someone is.
These are three beautiful girls. Girls that have gorgeous smiles. Hearts of thanksgiving. Pure joy. These girls came barging into church this morning a few minutes into the pastor’s message. They were laughing and playing and it was contagious. And guess what, that was ok here. It was ok that they came in and laughed and walked in between the rows of chairs. Nobody stopped them, because how could you ask these beautiful girls to not smile?
The little girl in the blue came up next to Becca (our trip leader) and had the youngest one just propped right up on her hip. As you can clearly see, they are almost the same size, so I was high fiving her for a job well done. She sat her little sister right up on the chair and started talking a little bit to Becca. Becca pulled out a piece of paper and pen for her to color on. By this time, they have my full attention (sorry pastor, you still make me laugh) and the little girl in the blue kept making faces at me, so naturally I made them back. She kept reaching across Becca and holding my hand. She simply smiled. If that wasn’t enough to bring joy to my entire day, she went and picked up her little sister again, propped her back up on her hip and brought her straight to my lap. She smiled and went back to the other side of Becca, where Becca did a great job of entertaining her the rest of the sermon. So here I am sitting in the church with this precious little girl in my lap. I asked Steph (the girl who we are working with while we are here) where these girls came from. She looked at me and shrugged, meaning that they came in all by themselves p.s. you have to climb three flights of stairs to get where we were…impressive. Anyways, so this precious little girl in my lap looks right up at me with her beautiful eyes, as you can see, and then plopped over onto my chest and slept. Not just like a, hmm I think I will rest my eyes… but a full on, conked out sleep. I was literally ecstatic. I had been waiting all week just to be able to love on these people, and it started today. Simply by the baby girl cradled in my arms. This joy overwhelmed me, the burden for her sank deep. This was not just some girl, but this was a girl, like her other sisters, living in a place like above.
Putting a face with those “places” that we sympathize for, is beyond words.
We see beauty, laughter, joy, love, and acceptance before we even know or see this home. Knowing that these girls are living so simply, but from meeting and playing with them before even knowing where they came from, allowed the actions of these girls to show grateful hearts for just the people that began to surround them. They came and left with no material things, but came in with love and overwhelmed us with joy, and left knowing that they were loved today.
this is the precious little girl that i got to hold 🙂
p.s. all these pictures were taken by kenzie green! isn’t she amazing?!
