Hugging Me

"And please bless the kids who don't have anything to eat," he prayed over lunch. Lunch at Casa Buena Semilla-- maybe his only meal of the day.

The words squeezed my heart and I took in a slow, long breath. The rest of the kids repeated the prayer and finally the prayer was followed by an "amen."

Nope. I'll never get used to it. Never.

I spent the day yesterday in Barrio Egipto with my cousin Megan and my Aunt Karin. To get a more detailed background on the neighborhood, you can read this post. My senses were taking in everything about this rundown neighborhood. The broken tiles, the broken bottles, the broken windows... the broken lives.

We were there to play with the kids, read a Bible story and do a small craft. The kids in the morning came before their classes started at 12:30 pm. They received homework help and Bible lessons and lunch. Then the afternoon kids came after their morning classes, had lunch and basically repeated what the morning kids got. This meal--lunch-- was easily the only meal many of these kids got that day. And yet, when they prayed over it, their friends and neighbors who weren't sitting next to them were never far from heart. They did not fail to pray for "the kids who don't have anything to eat." Nevermind that these kids at the Buena Semilla had almost nothing to eat... at least they had something.

I fell in love with a little boy named Kevin. He was five years old and had the sweetest, biggest, roundest eyes. I picked him up once and after that, he always wandered over to me and crawled into my lap, snuggling into my arms... fitting perfectly. Oh, I could have taken him home. As I looked into his big eyes, I wondered what evil he had seen in his short five years. Had he seen his father hit his mother? Had he seen stealing hands? Had he seen blood trickling down the pavement? Had he seen cold, still eyes? Had he seen death?

I shivered and pulled him closer. How was my world so far from his? We lived and existed on the same planet yet the lives we lived were so opposite I couldn't wrap my mind around the differences. His sweet smile reassured me, comforted me. I squeezed him tighter, trying to shrug off the irony of the situation. His endearing heart was loving me.

And as I hugged him, he gently wrapped his small arms around me and hugged me back. I truly wasn't just there to just love others. He was eager and willing to love me.