To Be Held

I wanted to share a moment and thought I experienced yesterday. Megan Lyons and Kaitlin Watkins are here with us as interns for a few weeks. They are working in Old Naledi at the Thlamelo Feeding Station while they are here. One child stood out for Megan and I wanted to share her story from my perspective.

One little girl wearing matching clothing was there who stood out from all the children. Her name is Thoto and she was away from all of the activity. She seemed content to distance herself and not get into the swinging,hugging, play with long blond hair and getting picked up into the air and brought back down again. Megan asked her if she wanted her to pick her up. Her smile turned to a confused face and not understanding what Megan meant. The little ones know Setswana way better than English so we thought it was a language problem. When Megan picked her up, she looked at me with bewilderment. "This child does not know how to be held. She is setting here, loose on me side, looking away from me." I began my teaching moment.

Most of the Botswana children are not held and loved on the way American children are back home. If they are held it is by and older sibling when they are very young. After they can "fend" for themselves they are on their own. The "love language" expressed here is you have clothes, you are fed and you are clean. That is more than a majority of them recieve here in the villages. Being held by an adult in a loving and kind way is very awkward for most of the children in the villages. Megan was in shock and could not put her down again. After 15 minutes of being held, Thoto began to hold onto Megan and smile. They later began to exchange silly facial expressions back and forth. Megan had to finally put her down to teach the bible lesson (which she did a great job). Thoto then did something different. Instead of being away from the other children, she joined them and sat with them to her the story. We met her later at the church in the afternoon and she stayed close to us and the other the rest of the time we were there.

The difference of just being held and loved can change a persons life or attitude. How often we ignore and neglect this powerful gift God has given us. We are made in the image of God to hold and nurture those around us. Oddly enough, Jesus himself did this and the disciples complained. It was not the "church work" the envisioned He should be doing. Jesus held them close and looked in their eyes to let the children know He loved them. He also gave the disciples a lesson in the process.

I pray we will learn to share the love of Jesus with all the children around us, not just the ones who jump in our laps but the Thoto's who are standing aside waiting to feel what it means to be held with the love of Jesus. The work of Jesus is sharing His love not always about being busy in the work.

God's Blessings to you all.

Scott Shipes