He carried the bird to us. His little hands, grubby, with sores and a nasty rash spreading on the forearm. The boy thought the bird was hurt and we could help. Us, being "wazungu" ("white" + missionaries = having solutions, right?) tend towards hyper-sensitivity about cleanliness and priorities. We could have certainly overlooked the bird and gone straight to treating the small boy; but, we've learned a thing or two in our almost three years of living in Kenya. We looked at his bird. It was important to him so it needed to be important to us. We made a big deal about the yellow feathers and reassured him all would be fine since the bird simply acted a bit dazed. It might have been the boy knocked him out of a tree with a stick or rescued it from a stray cat. Who knows. Giving the bird attention made the boy trust us, maybe even like us enough to let us help him. We found that point of contact.
Questions -
How many times do we rush in and try to solve obvious problems that might need an approach that's not so obvious?
Can we be hyper-sensitive about things that matter like forgiveness, kindness and patience when we're busy fixing things? (Oh, I felt a pinch there!)
Will the help we are trying to give really help or does it just make us feel better about ourselves?
The biggest lesson I learned from this small boy was regardless of his own painful-looking condition, he was concerned about the bird and wanted it to be well.
"Lord, let me not be quick to think I know all the answers or be offended when someone treats my efforts with indifference. Let me see truly and clearly so I can be
Your hands extended."
Matthew 6-26.
Value one another.
While writing this I received news that our local pastor's wife's sister died. This is her second sister to die in three weeks. With the ongoing church property issues, this is quite a blow, especially to this beautiful sister of faith. Her name is Mary. We'd appreciate your prayers.
hugs from the haugers Ooo0o