The Place of Highest Honor

 Try to get a picture in your mind of what  I am about to describe to you. Two or three somewhat rickety wooden tables, lined up in front of three or four wooden benches, covered in pale blue cotton table cloths; Couches and plastic chairs covered in white doilies. Kenyan hospitality at its finest. Seats of highest honor. Guests are treated as royalty in a sense.  You are offered the best seats they have to offer, the nicest meal they can prepare for you, anything at all that they think is the best that they can give you. How do you suppose it would impact our ability to minister to people if we treated them like this? What would happen if we offered our very best to others instead of our castoffs or leftovers? I believe we could change the world one encounter at a time.

I propose, though, that there are seats of much higher honor to be had. Take for example last week's closing ceremony with the team from Colorado. There were countless places to sit. On the benches next to Jim. On the window sill by the kids. In the kitchen with Ms. June and others. Where was I sitting? Nowhere near any of them. I found a spot on the floor just in front of some of the smallest children. I was sitting in the middle of a dirt floor with 300 plus children around me. Teachers offered me a chair, a bench, anything but the floor. I was perfectly content to be sitting on the floor surrounded by little ones. I even had one in my lap sleeping peacefully and soundly throughout the entire ceremony. I was most surprised by the fact that some people had looks of annoyance or even disdain on their faces. I wasn't behaving like a normal white person. I should have been in what they deemed to be the place of highest honor. 

Being surrounded by children, for me, was a seat of more honor than the finest chair covered in the finest cloth. Children are quite discerning when it comes to people. They know who is being sincere and who is just giving them lip service. For my lap, arms, and legs to be covered in children speaks to the fact that they know that I am here to love them for as long as I am in Kenya. Beyond that, each of them at different times needs something different from you. Some days it is a hug. Other days they need you to listen to them, I mean really listen to them. And on other days they just need to be close to you for as long as it takes for them to feel safe, secure, and loved. Jesus didn't command us to go out and sit in places of honor. Jesus commanded us to go out and share His love with the masses. You can shout and scream all you want, but until you are willing to get your hands in the big middle of something and develop real relationships with people, all your shouting and screaming isn't going to do you a bit of good. Make your interactions with people count. Do something more with an encounter than just let it pass you by. 

Today, what do you suppose would happen if you took the time to just notice someone? What do you think would happen if you were to be Jesus with skin on and love on someone who needs it today? I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be here in this time for these days to have these experiences. The children and people of Kenya have changed my life immeasurably and will continue to do so until I leave to come home. 

Until next time
~Melody~