Mexico Day 2- Love is ....

Love is in the simplest of touch. A high five, a hug, a tap on the shoulder...this is what I have been learning over the past two years in youth ministry and this is what is apparent here and now. There is something lacking between the kids and myself, that is the entire ability to communicate verbally, but you really wouldn't be able to tell if you watched the way we interact. My love no longer has the ability to come from my words, but it comes from intentional touch. Allow children to climb all over me, stroke my arm hair (which happens often...kinda weird, but I may pick this up so if you are a close friend...watch out for me bringing home the stroking of arm hair), a piggy back ride or simply an ambrazo (think thats how you spell it) a hug. The lack of physical contact this kids have the ability to get is sad. The staff here is loving and caring, but they cannot be a mom or a dad to all 32 kids here. I experienced this today when I was hanging out with the babies. There is a seperate wing of the orphanage for infants-3 year olds and they are amazing. I walked into one of their rooms filled with six cribs with the most beautiful babies in them. I saw Yiram and picked her up for a little bit, she was making some strange noises and I got a little unnerved slash bored (i'm kinda hyper and holding babies is kinda uneventful at times) so I set her down in her crib. The crying began and I cannot handle crying. So I picked her back up and immediately the crying ceased. Over the next 3 minutes I tried this 4 times and the same thing kept re-occuring. As I finally gave in to holding this baby for an extended period of time I recognized that those weird noises was her attempt at singing. It was beautiful. As time past she clung to me and pressed her head against my shoulder and continued to sing. This child simply needed somebody to hold her and to love her. Maybe I look too hard, maybe I am just obsessed, or maybe its completely reasonable but I totally grasped God in this moment. What if like Yurim apart from someone carrying for us (God) we must cry, however when we are truly in God's embrace we naturally sing? This is how it is meant to be. In the grasp, in the embrace, in the arms of God we sing. I became content in knowing that my job today, my role as a representative of Jesus Christ in that moment was to simply hold a small infant. I was called to allow a baby to let her guard down, to feel loved, to rest on my shoulder, to sing (or more like hum). I was called to for a minute hold someone and not let go! Appropriate physical touch can sometimes be the most sacrificial type of love. Some of this kids are not incredibly clean, kissing the cheek of a small baby here is not crazy sanitary but it is in those moments where you begin to get how to love! Multiple times I have had kids crawl into my lap and just grab my hand or play with my hair or scratch at my bracelet. I'm learning how to let this kids into my world! Those are my thoughts for today...more to come, continue to pray!

p.s I'm not re-reading this so typos, run on sentences, fragments, horrible grammer...get over it