"Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Ephesians 5:1,2
The languages of love, laughter, and music know no boundaries and allow people from every nation to offer the beautiful fragrance of Christ to one another in a way that brings hope, healing, and peace and brings a beacon of light that covers darkness and pain. The language of love permeated every encounter and conversation with the amazing people of Haiti. Smiles and hugs united us in miraculous ways and laughter and music gave us heart connections that won't be quickly forgotten.
I sensed the laughter as I offered to help a woman wash her clothes in the government built canal. She laughed as I tried and laughed as she rewashed the items I had washed after I walked away. We all have our own ways of doing things!
The laughter of children rang throughout the village as our team painted their fingernails, got schooled in a soccer game and as they taught us their Haitian games. Laughter brought joy and magnified our shared humanity and God's character.
As our team passed the time singing our favorite songs as we washed dishes one evening, our beautiful Haitian cooks joined in, singing in their own language "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!" We sang common songs with our translators as we travelled on the back of the bus and painted a porch in a village, reminders of God's grace and unchanging presence.
Two little girls dragged me across the village to the village playground, only to sit down we with me and begin to sing "Bless The Lord, O my soul. Worship his holy name" first in English and then in Creole. As we painted a home, the children flocked as they heard the resounding voices of our team. "Mwen genyen jwa, jwa, jwa, jwa an dedenke Mwen!" They joined in as we sang about the joy of the Lord down in our hearts in their native tongue.
As we worshipped with the Church of Hope, the entire congregation sprang to their feet as the final notes rang from the Haitian woman, who sang with unmatched fervor and passion (and volume!) "It is well, it is well with my soul!" The Haitian people cried out to God in song, "Let it rain, let it rain! Open the floodgates of heaven!" We joined in, a prayer for a people not only in need of the spiritual living water of Jesus, but with an ever present need to have their physical thirst quenched in a land where rivers and streams have gone dry.
We sang as our team washed each other's feet, following the example of Jesus, who loved and served the least of these and offers us the privilege to do the same. We washed one another's feet, feet dirty from the dust; weary, joyful, and obedient feet boldly proclaiming God's love.
A team member sang a quiet lullaby as she held a 4 month old baby suffering with fever and pain from a virus obtained from a mosquito as we prayed for complete healing. The concrete walls of a small one room shack echoed the triumph of "Amazing Grace" where a man begged us to pray for a better way of life for his family, his wife and their 8 month old baby, who was lying naked on the bed, his nakedness a refuge from the heat. We claimed through song that we never walk alone and of God's infinite faithfulness as we gave medicine to a woman long suffering with heartburn and the ramifications of high blood pressure and no money or means to get to the clinic. As a young girl taught me a game where we clapped our hands together in a repetitive pattern, I began to sing "Jesus loves me" and she repeated each line after me, her smile piercing my heart. The love of Jesus is without limit.
The languages of love and laughter and music are gifts that we gave and that were selflessly returned back to us as we lived among our Haitian brothers and sisters. God makes a way for all people to experience God's love regardless of race, culture or country, whether living in poverty or with wealth. Embracing God's language of love everyday, moment by moment, in every relationship and in every circumstance has the power to change a life, change a community, change the world.
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