Poco a poco...
Posted by Amanda , Thursday, April 22, 2010 8:05 PM
Little by little...
"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." - Laura Ingalls Wilder
As I sit here, thinking back on my first week of living in Jaco, I am honestly just in awe of God. Never in my life have I felt so blessed as I do right now. Each day is a reminder that the little things truly count and they make life what it is. Each little step, each little smile, each little thought...they are pure blessings.
I feel like even my senses have just increased even while being here. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch...somehow God has give me the ability to feel even more. Just as I'm typing, I'm laying in a hammock, watching the lightning, listening to the thunder, smelling the smoldering smoke from a camfire next door. It's magnificent.
God has just blessed me with so many things, I feel like each day is a new surprise. The past few days, we've had the beautiful opportunity to begin working with kids in a place called "the River." It's just a small community located on the river banks running into the ocean. The kids are phenomenal. Already I've come to love them. Emily and I have also been able to start a collection of artwork they've drawn us and we have a nice collage on our wall. A typical day involves being jumped on, hugged until you can't breath, carrying around and holding the most beautiful children in the world while sweat is pouring out of you, smiling, laughing, playing silly games, trying to communicate in Spanish, drawing strange looking animals on pieces of paper for the kids to color, screaming at the top of your lungs, laughing, helping with homework (somehow, I managed to help a little girl with her Spanish homework...I think I learned more than she did!) and just generally having fun and being silly. I can't explain how much I love it. When I'm in those situations, I can't see anything past the kids that are in front of me. The world stops and I just get to love, love, love and recieve lots of love in return. It's great...I almost want to say it's magical. I can't think of any other way to describe it.
Other than the blessing of being able to spend time with those kids, there are many other blessings as well. After a hot day of walking about 3 or 4 hours in extreme heat, Emily and I talked about how there was nothing we would like better than to be laying in a pool, on an inflatable raft, drinking smoothies. By the end of the day, we had drank an amazing smoothie, lounged in our leaders beautiful pool and had some great conversation. God truly goes above and beyond my expectations. Every day, some new, small blessing appears that knocks my socks off.
Right now I feel like this time is all about capturing moments. It's about realizing that the smallest things can make the biggest difference. I have to remember that not only for my everyday life, but also in what I am looking for God to do through ministry and love. The smallest things, like playing in the mud with a child, can do such a great thing in the long run. Little by little, we are changing lives and making a difference in the world. Nothing is too little to go unlooked. The littlest things can produce the biggest changes.
So, what am I, what are you, doing with the little things, with the moments?
"All great things are only a number of small things that have carefully been collected together." - Anonymous
"We can not do great things. We can only do little things with great love." - Mother Teresa
Oh my gosh amanda you took the thoughts right out of my head. You're amazing, way to put it in writing :) i hope you continue to have little, significant moments every day here. i look forward to sharing them with you! i love you.