EMPTYING THE OCEAN WITH AN EYEDROPPER

Visiting students is the part of my job that doesn't really feel like a job. How on earth did I get this insanely awesome opportunity? To enter into their space, get on their level, meet their families, see their situation first-hand, spend quality time, and love them.

How is it that I, a twenty-something white girl, get to dive into the trenches with some of the poorest of the poor? With those who have been abused and abandoned? With those who don't have much to call their own? 

I am in no way prepared or qualified for such a task, but God called me anyways for some reason beyond my own understanding. God seems to have a thing for calling the ill-equiped (Moses, anyone?). So, I find myself extremely thankful that I get to love them. I love loving them.

However, as you probably know, love comes with heartache. Katie Davis, in her book Kisses from Katie, puts it this way:

"Sometimes working in a Third World Country makes me feel like I am emptying the ocean with an eyedropper. And just when I have about half a cup full of water, it rains...It is enough to discourage even the most passionate and enthusiastic person. And yet the discouragement lasts only a moment and God tells me to keep going. That He loves me. That He loves these people. That He will never leave or forsake any of us, not one. That my work is important to him...Love is the reason I just keep filling up my little eyedropper, keep filling it up and emptying my ocean one drop at a time. I’m not here to eliminate poverty, to eradicate disease, to put a stop to people abandoning babies. I’m just here to love."

Isn't that the truth! God did not call me here to fix people or systems, I can leave that up to Him. He called me here to love. Why? Because He perfectly and sacrificially loved us first. Whether working in Haiti or in a fancy high-rise building in Los Angeles, the Christian is called to love with a different kind of love: the immeasurable, unconditional love of Christ. Although I'm not always good at it, I'm thankful I get to be a part of what He's up to! Even when it feels like I'm only emptying the ocean with an eyedropper.

Little Jenifer is a kindergarten student at Grace Emmanuel School. Her and her family have become one of my most favorite people to visit!