I heard these two seemingly meaningless words on my most recent trip to Haiti. A fellow team member shared how God has whispered to her in two word phrases of late. Besides “Marry him” within the last year-related to a man she had known for 2 1/2, she has heard other whispers: related to her gifts and talents, to focus on “One thing” and related to her circumstances, to be grateful for and content in “Even this.”
She came to me actually after I had shared with the team two words I had overheard which stopped me in my tracks. One week ago today, we took the children from one of the orphanages to a public beach northwest of Port-au-Prince. After a hot lunch of spaghetti and ketchup (I for one cannot bring myself to pour anything but hot sauce on noodles in Haiti), it was time to clean-up. Our director, Shanika, politely asked one of the translators, Jemps, to carry the very large pot which was tellingly very empty to the school bus which transported us. I wasn’t paying full attention as I was returning various items to my back pack when he quickly and quietly replied, “With joy.” I immediately asked him to repeat those words. My sister, Clissy overheard them as well, and we both were truly struck.
What I didn’t share with the team were two ubiquitous words I heard on the bus when we dropped off the children at the orphanage at the end of the day. One of the older boys – with whom I may have thrown the ball but honestly couldn’t remember – locked his eyes on mine and in a barely audible voice offered, “Thank you.” My eyes welled with tears as I let his gratitude sink in. I didn’t even know his name nor he mine. And it was okay.
Speaking of okay, I read an article before leaving the country entitled, “Okay or Thank You” about not just cultivating manners in our children but a “habit of the heart.” I just love that! It noted that when they get an answer they don’t really care for, we should teach them to respond, “Okay Mom (or Dad)” and when the opposite is true, to say a simple but sincere, “Thank you.” Not out of rote memory . . . but from a truly tender heart.
It has been suggested that Haiti changes you more than you change it. Oh, how true. The Haitians I have known exude gratitude, joy and a full reliance on God that comes from, well, fully relying on Him for quite literally, everything. Joy, as CS Lewis, describes, IS “the business of heaven.” And as I was reminded before I left, the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Gregory Boyle, author of Tattoos on the Heart, would suggest that the Kingdom of God may very well be the person in front of you. At the water cooler at work, in the line at Wal-Mart, on a school bus in one of the poorest countries in the world, on a sofa at the smallest home you’ve ever had but is everything you need…and more.
In conclusion I offer a passage from the aforementioned book – my new favorite: “Jesus says, ‘You are the light of the world.’ I like even more what Jesus doesn’t say. He does not say, ‘One day, if you are more perfect and try really hard, you’ll be light.’ He doesn’t say, ‘If you play by the rules, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, then maybe you’ll become light.’ No. He says, straight out, ‘You are light.’ It is the truth of who you are, waiting only for you to discover it. So, for God’s sake, don’t move. No need to contort yourself to be anything other than who you are.”
What if in all circumstances, we responded with “Okay God,” “Thank you,” “With joy,” “Even this” and yes even, “I’m light.” It could transform our grumbling, complaining, catastrophizing, impatience and unshakable sense of entitlement. We could form a habit of the heart which just might allow our full participation in God’s purposes. Wow.
You are light my friends – in your rage, judgments, unforgiveness, shame, addictions, betrayals, fears, self-doubt as well as confidence.
Because, quite simply yet incomprehensibly, God is.
Caroline Watkins