Work

Have you ever eaten meat that had no seasoning? It wasn't bad, was it...but it definitely lacked flavor. That would be my life without my wild-hearted little 5 year old. She loves many things that I hate and hates many things that I love. She is almost nothing like me...and I think that's fun! She thinks of things that would never occur to anyone else in the family. We've had to create new boundaries just to keep up with all the new territory she has taken us into. Not only that, our little fashionista has a GOD given ability to accessorize.

My favorite thing about her, though, is that she loves to work. If you need anything done around the house, Wild Heart is your girl. I remember when she was newly walking, she would toddle over to the open hatch of our vehicle and try to help us unload groceries. There she would be, carrying things almost her same size, to the front door. That's when we started calling her Hercules.

Well, over the past couple of weeks Wild Heart claimed the task of caring for our guards. Throughout the day, she checks on their bottle of water and makes sure its topped off. When we went to the market the other day, she slipped several treats in the cart "for the guard", she said. I've even walked in on her sitting opposite them in a chair slowly saying English words for them to repeat. It was precious to see their dark eyes fixed on her mouth, trying to mimic the words she formed.

This morning, as I worked in our outdoor laundry room, I peered around the corner to see where Wild Heart had skipped off to. What I saw instead was Jay*, our temporary gardener, being detained at our front gate. When he saw me, he called out jubilantly "Hello! I am here to start work!!"

I have tried, but I can't remember one time when I ever showed up to work with so much enthusiasm. Why is it I would always think of work as being a bad thing?

One of my first days here I was standing at the sink and the realization fell heavy on me: living in Africa is going to be a lot of work. And it is.

However, I remember something from the Garden of Eden: work came before the fall. It wasn't part of the curse. The adversity striving against the work was. Work is good. In fact, I think it is supposed to be enjoyable.

We spent this morning cleaning the covered roof of our home so that in the mornings we can sit in the shaded outdoors to do school. Jay* came up to help us and everyone, including the kids, were scrubbing floors and furniture. We were sweaty and tired but we felt kindred with one another as we labored on the task side by side.

I think Heaven is going to be like that. I think it will be the pure joy of working together in whatever GOD apportions to us. It will be crazy fun there to work alongside our family...kind of like today.

I don't know what work GOD has planned for us in our new land, but I am so excited. I hope it's hard and wonderful and that it affects the KINGdom, helps my man, and builds my family.

"Here I am, LORD, I am here to start work!!!!"