One Smile and the Rest is History


Most of you know me well enough to know I LOVE children.  In the states teaching kids, and working with kids was my joy. Here in India, nothing has changed.  One day while I was walking home from the market, I smiled at a little girl. Her name was Mahek.  Mahek is the youngest daughter of a family of 9 kids. She greeted me and we chatted a bit on the road. Holding my hand, she invited me into her humble home. With a dirt floor and no door to cover the opening we made out way easily in off the street. Her family welcomed me with a bit of surprise, but also with great joy and smiles.   Mahek and her family have become some of my closest Indian neighbors.  I visit them regularly. Their MuZli* family shares their ways with me, and I share my ways with them. We are real and laugh and have fun together. We are not afraid to be our true selves together.  They are patient with my Hindi and quick to forgive my poor grammar.  But more than any other family, I can sit for hours and hours at a time and talk with this family. Each time more opportunities comes to share my faith and what I believe.  I sat reflecting the other day on our friendship and was reminded that it started with a smile. ONE smile.  Sometimes that’s all it takes.


Pr* with me for regular times to visit this family, and develop our trust and respect of one another. Pr* for us to have deep conversation that go beyond the day to day and into the core of who we are and why we exist.  Pr8 for words to bring enlightenment and truth, yet in love and with humility. Pr* for Mahek, her 8 siblings, and her parents.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bhindi or “Tikka” Mark on the Head- What is it?

Image
(Pooja tikka mark) Many westerners have asked me what the Bhindi or red “tikka” mark means or why I am willing to wear it as a Chri$tian. Many people associate this mark with H!nduism. In my contextualization classes we were taught about finding the difference between culture and religion. The scripture is clear that we don’t want to do anything to compromise our Chri$tian faith and values. At the same time the go$pel is full of the liberties that Chri$t brought to us through the cross. We are no longer obligated to religious practices and rituals. Chri$t fulfilled the law. As we work with non-believers we don’t want to make Chri$tianity another religion. We don’t want to make following Chri$t more difficult than it has to be. Following Je$us doesn’t have to mean abandoning culture, it just has to mean abandoning any other faith or practices of that faith. As teachers, we have to help our disciples find this difference as they come to follow the Father more and more. We don...
Read more

What’s It Like Here with Lockdown?

Image
(This woman sold her husband's phone for 2500rps ($33) to buy food.) I don’t think any country or family has it “easy” during these Covid-19 times, but I do think Third World Countries like ours have it a little harder.  Many of the people who are day laborers or migrants are really struggling. These are the people who work every day to get income to supply that same day’s food supply. Without it, they have no food to eat. With lockdown, most of this population is without income and therefore without food. Today, news came that one lady died from hunger in Nep@l.  Each day the news is filled with stories and pictures of desperate slum dwellers lined up at NGO doors for food donations or migrant day laborers walking thousands of miles to try to go back to their cities or countries to find food. The stories are gut retching.  In our personal city, we haven’t seen these stories first hand. Throughout the country, there are government programs ...
Read more

But God...

Every Knee Will Bow And Every Tongue Will Confess Truly everywhere we look is need- physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual. I see the man with elephantitis lift his giant leg to shift his position as he sits on a mat begging for money on the side of the road. I see a woman sitting on a patch of grass on the edge of a busy highway practicing her meditation attempting to find her inner peace. I see a young girl on her way to school stop to touch the street cow and then touch her own forehead in hopes that her Hindu practices will reap the blessing from her god (cow). Simultaneously, I see a shop keeper allow the giant cow to mosey along his street front restaurant; he even offers the cow freshly made roti (bread) as to not offend his “god” passing by. I see another person practicing yoga with all the pristine positions and poses. Her breaths are well practiced, yet her face is stricken with the look of anxiety and distress.  I see a young man who ...
Read more