This year our girls at Village of Joy have been learning a very important life lesson...what love looks like!
Many of us want to do great things...make our way up in the world of fame, do something that nobody else has done before, become the next president of the nation, or have an awesome career. But few of us discover the secret to becoming great in God' ́s eyes. When we become willing to go down to the lowest place and live the simplicity of LOVE, becoming a servant of all and laying down our lives for those around us, this is where we discover God ́s heart for people and see them the way He sees them.
See, we cannot love if we have not first known Love. We can love God and those around us only because He loved us first!
We are encouraging our girls to love as God has loved them...to lift their eyes and see those around them who are longing for a hug, longing for comfort, longing for an ear to listen, longing for family, longing for someone who would love them for who they are and not for what they can do or what they wear or what degree they have.
How many people we meet in our daily lives are just waiting... waiting... WAITING...to experience LOVE???
Loving As We Have Been Loved...
To put this into practice, a group of our little girls piled into our minibus and off they went with some of our team on a treasure hunt....to scout out little children who roam the town streets all day picking through the rubbish in ragged clothes and bare feet. It was time these children got a warm sweater and binnie for the cold season had already closed in on our little African town (these children have homes to return to at night but lack of love and attention or responsible caring family members and poverty at home drive them to spend their days wandering on the streets and picking through the rubbish piles.) Our little girls excitedly squirmed in their seats as the white minibus made its way into town. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for the little boys and girls who were needing some love! It was time for kids to reach out to kids! Our girls at Village of Joy were once like these little street kids and know what it feels like to have no shoes, to sleep on the floor sharing a blanket at night with 3 or 4 others, or to eat one meal a day. They had squealed with delight at the opportunity to go and find these little ones to care for and give to them ̈what they themselves had received ̈...LOVE.
By Annelisa Romano De Souza (Wilcox), Iris Lichinga
