Restoration through Reconciliation starts with a smile
Smiling seems to be a theme in my time oversees and it is with a smile that I share my reflections tonight. But, sometimes there are interruptions that threaten to steal our smile, because, well, they are not the most welcome guests. Words like inconvenient, painful, frustrating, and confusing erupt in protest from our hearts when we meet such, which is just what happened to me recently when I injured my ankle and my smile tried to fade.
Taking time to regularly reflect and allow His love to heal us in the lesser talked about places is necessary work. He is equally interested in wholeness in both our body and our soul. (Isaiah 53) (Psalm 103) The truth is, without my brokenness, I would have a tough time relating to the people that He sends me to, but only because I have experienced the transformative, healing, comforting nature of His love in there. This is how I am confident that Jesus is the answer to every single thing, body, soul and spirit, and this is why I smile.
When I walk around Nepal, I stare straight into the blatant display of brokenness at every turn. Yesterday, I walked by a little boy, probably around 8 years old, who had been laid in the ditch by someone, because he only had one leg. The other “leg” was a huge mass of skin, as if he had undergone a botched amputation. He had been given an empty water bottle which he banged over and over and over again, while lying there in the ditch, in order to secure some money for whoever laid him there. I walked to him smiling and he smiled back at me the most beautiful smile ever! I think that is truly miraculous. I see Jesus in Him, smiling back at me. Whether or not He knows it yet, He is made in the image of God, He is known, seen, and loved, and if we can see Jesus in the one in front of us, everything else changes.
It wasn’t just him either. A girl whose body was so badly burned at one time from head to toe, she hardly looked human, also in a ditch, waiting for donations. Then there was a down syndrome wheelchair bound girl, an elderly lady with her blind husband, and the list goes on and on. But at each and every turn, when I smiled, they smiled right back, offering the traditional namaste, and a pause in time to remind us all that brokenness in body or soul doesn’t have to erase our smile. Reminding me that everyone, absolutely everyone is a beautiful, handmade gift from the God of the universe, child of God, bearing His image. Indeed, His smile.
We may not feel like smiling, or engaging humanity, or being positive, and that of course is very ok, because He doesn’t expect anything of us, except to be where we are. He sees us and smiles at us and loves us to pieces, no matter what. But seeing these ones on the streets of Nepal smiling back at me, knowing the horrors of their bodies were only just a piece of the horror of their stories impacting their hearts reminded me that humanity shares in common both the beauty and the brokenness, and sometimes a smile helps to remind us that it is all going to be ok.
I hope my smile helped heal their heart for a moment, the way their smiles helped heal mine.
Of course, sharing the truth of the love of Jesus with the broken, in body and spirit is really what it is all about, where radiant, knowing smiles of those who learn how they were loved from the beginning, will light up faces. I love the truth we read about in Psalm 147 for example, “He heals the brokenhearted, and bandages up their wounds.”
This reflection reminded me of a story I wrote about Jaja Jane, one of my most favourite friends ever. I am thankful that she allowed us to lead her to the Lord, and that He even healed her body before she went to be with Jesus, so that I can dance and laugh with her in heaven one day. I am adding this hilarious picture of us here in case you need more to smile about today. You can find the whole story here in Field Stories, under the title “SMILE.”
Big Brave SMILES to you all.