LOVE BEYOND BOUNDARIES
..:: By: Alia Zion ::..
The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
(Matthew 25:45)
Church Outdoor
Amazed, buoyant, humbled, dumbstruck, elated, astound, exhilarated…………………. None of these words can express what I truly felt as we slowly descended to the compound of the Uganda Spastics School, Mengo. Yes I have had a chance of visiting other homes of handicapped children but every experience is diosyncratic. I had been reading a book by Gary Chapman en route to Mengo ,so deep were my thoughts that I almost missed the spark in their eyes, the smiles on their faces, the joy in their laughter, these amazing children could not hold back their excitement. My mind quickly shifted from my reverie to the children who eagerly waited as we alighted from the Costa. Why were we here on a Sunday afternoon, they must have wondered, we were here to love and share Christ with them in the simplest of ways possible.
What was I to say to them, what games was I to play with them, would they like the games I suggested, would they want to be hugged, all this and many more questions flooded my mind but then came Emily a rather interesting young girl who tightly hugged and welcomed us one after another with all the love in her heart. All that mattered to her was that their visitors felt comfortable in what they considered their home. This was my first lesson; you do not really need to know people to love them. Love is not a feeling but an attitude expressed in appropriate behavior. It is the attitude that chooses to build up another, to put their interest above your own interest, love is something you choose to do and Emily chose to love us.
I was not specific about the group that I would join being that I like to have a feel of everything so I walked around from one group to the next interacting with the children getting to know their names, applauding their attempts to express themselves, and watching how happy they were playing with their new found friends. From the really young children screaming on the slides and swings to the middle aged ones passing the ball around and finally to the older children discussing Christ I felt humbled to be a part of this. To be able to touch their lives by just talking to them, by holding their hands, by serving them, by singing songs and praying with them. I was humbled at what God had done in their lives as well as ours.
So for me this was a life lesson, not the class lessons where I had to understand that a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen produces water, this was God teaching and reminding me of His love, his purpose for my existence. Sometimes we are so familiar with spectacular it doesn't move us as it should. We have to look at something lesser, be amazed, and then look back to really feel the wonder of the original. Inherently, we know we have been designed to live for something greater than ourselves.
Our contribution to this world has to be measured by something more meaningful than the size of our house or the neighborhood where it is located. And our lives are going to find lasting significance in how we choose to live and how we enable others to live
theirs. Am so glad I was able to go out and minister to these children.