When I wrote “It hurts to say good bye” I really thought
that would be
my last blog about my precious time in
the beautiful country and my Swazi friends and would shortly be back
in
Those were my closing thoughts, my closing emotions and
what I thought was me closing that chapter of my life. Unbeknownst to
me I hadn’t yet learned everything that I was supposed to from Swazi
or the Swazi people.
Upon my arrival home I experienced culture shock. Yes, I had spent the
previous 24 years of my life in
but I wasn’t ready to come
home to everything I could ever need. Let me stop right there for a
second because I think we forget that so easily. Look around you.
You’ve got everything you could ever need. You’ve even got
everything
that you probably don’t need. But how easy is it for us to
become discontent
and think we need more and more and more. Yeah, I’ve got a
nice house
and a sweet HD TV but look at this guy’s house and TV. Or
maybe for
you it’s a car, or a boat or something small like a MacBook (sorry PC people).
There was one major thing that I didn’t realize until after
I had returned
back to
Everything that I always thought I needed, I didn’t really need.
Now this was not intentional, nor could I have planned it but I never
blogged about the children on
All along it was them that
drew me there, but never once did I write about them. But let it not
be mistaken I did not come to this “need” revelation on my own. No, it
was them that taught me this. They taught me what it really is that we
need in life. I don’t want to be cliché but isn’t there a well-known
song that says, “all you need is love,” and I can’t fully agree with
that because to not acknowledge that all we need is Christ’s love would
be missing the point completely. But truly all we need is love.
Those beautiful Swazi kids didn’t have decent clothes or bikes or
the gadgets that all the American kids have. Half of them didn’t even
have parents (plural) and if they did, they probably weren’t loved
like they should be. But every time we got close to a care point or we
drove past the “preschoolers” they’d coming running, full tilt, and
jump into your arms for a big hug. They knew that above all things
they needed to be loved. It was just that simple. What makes it even
more astonishing is that looking back it was them that taught me love.
It didn’t matter what I looked like, how I smelled, or how horrible my
day had been, those kids loved me. How many times I thought I was
holding them but in reality they were holding me. I thought I had gone
to Swazi to love them, to teach them, but they were the ones that
taught me.
It’s pretty simple and makes a lot of sense. When Jesus was asked what
the greatest commandment was he answered simply,
“Love God. Love
others.” That is what we need to do because it’s what we need. When we
as a people love God like we should, we will then in turn love others
as we should and that is all that we ever will need. Look around at
everything that you have that you don’t really need. Those things will
never be enough. We will realize who God is when we start loving each
other as we should and start loving Him as we should. So take some time
to love those that are around you. Turn off the TV, quiet the iPod and
just love people.
Ryan (themba)
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us
and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12
