"What a beautiful house you have! Did you build it yourself? I think Shaun helped you to build it right?" It is only smiles that comes from the 7 or 8 year old girl sitting in front of the pieces of sink and pieces of material that makes out to be the two beautiful little girls' play house! It is situated between coconut and indigenous trees and bushes in a small town called Timehri, Guyana.
The background of where these two lovely little girls come from is still a mystery to me. But I know that the lady that looks after them is not even sure how old they are and neither do they...
I sit down with them on the ground just outside their house between the bushes and rubble. We are busy preparing their plantain (banana type of fruit) and spices dish. "Pass dem on". The one boy playing with, should go fetch the plantain, I should pound the small plantains and then scoop out the rest of it out with a knife, disguised as a piece of white plastic. When you are done with that, you should put it in the plastic cup and then add the brown spices disguised as ground. "Go fetch da greens!" And after a while, the trustworthy Shaun returns with the pieces if luscious green grass. "Can I cut it up?" "Sure" Anisa smiles at me. I take up the unhandy "knife". My first normal Colette reaction kicks in: fold the grass double or triple so that you can cut it up faster. It is simple math - you can almost guarantee that the time spent on cutting it will be two or three times faster. And then it hit me: Does it matter how fast I can do it? Does it matter with how little trouble I can get it done? Does it matter how fine I should cut up the greens or does it matter that I get it done in time? Not actually even having the reality if time in a fantasy play game. Whether I cut up the greens in record time or not, it won't change the fact that it is still a dish made from plantain, ground and grass, and that the children are really just having a great time in the escape they are creating from the reality that surrounds them each and every day!
I realised right there and then that these things don't matter to these children at all! They don't care whether the ratio of ground to plantain in correct, or whether the greens looks neatly cut or if the "cutting board" is clean. They enjoy the game, they enjoy the fellowship and maybe they create the dream world, with a fantasy life where the sink and material house is a palace built for a queen. When I thought about what it would be that they would dream about, I thought that they would dream about a house that doesn't fall apart, where the tap water always runs, where there is enough couches to sit on, where everyone can eat with a spoon and there is enough glasses for everyone to drink from. Where the water in the kitchen and the water in the washroom can always run simultaneously, or where everyone in the house will have enough clothes to wear. And then I thought... Do these children even know of anything else than the circumstances they are currently living in? Does it matter to them? Because when a little girl's face lights up when she hears that she looks beautiful in her oversized shirt worn as a dress, then you know that eating without a spoon is the least of her worries.
While I am sitting with the knife in my hands, struggling to cut fresh grass with something as useless as a torch without batteries, I realize that I maybe have some things to think about. Maybe my philosophy that things are very much time and performance driven keeps me from spending quality time with people. As I am cutting, or actually tearing up the grass, I know that the only thing that matters to these girls are that I am sitting with them right there. That is all! And when Jesus was on earth, He set the perfect example on how to be focused on people! He stopped at the fig tree to look up at Zacchaeus between all of the people in the crowd and stay at his house even though he was a sinner (Luke 19). When the people were so many, and the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years touched Him, He stopped and gave attention just to her, and said: " Take heart daughter, your faith has healed you." (Mat 9:20-23). He went to have a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Even though he knew everything about her background, He crossed boundaries and broke down walls! (John 4). When the disciples rebuked the people when the children was brought to Him, He said: "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." And He placed His hands on them (Mat 19:13-14).
Are we busy with people, or with everything else that is going on around the person? Looking for a way to handle a situation in the quickest way possible? Or do we really try to spend time with the person? Nothing else but quality time? Like Jesus did. Jesus who focused on the person, and loved them with an open heart!
I really hope that the Lord will teach me how to have His way of spending quality time with people. Not trying to do this in the fastest, most "effective" way according to my definition of it, but to do it in the way that He finds fit. A way that will be beneficial to them and which will build up the church.
May Phil 2:3,4 be true in our lives: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourself, not looking for your own interests but each of you to the interests of others."