Como si fueran los suyos propios

As many of you know, I've been reading a book called 'Irresistible Revolution' by Shane Claiborne ever since I left Charlotte. I've been inspired by so many of his stories and others' he wrote about, including a jubilee on Wall Street, sleeping among the homeless time and time again, and bringing peace to some people in Iraq. During my stay in Chile, I've had lots of time to myself to reflect and ponder (in addition to all of my crazy adventures so far, believe it or not!). Or maybe it's just that I've finally taken more time to think, pray and be. Regardless, some things have been consistently on my heart in the past six weeks. For one, I keep going back to this particular passage in the book:

God of Little Things
Mother Teresa offers us that brilliant glimpse of hope that lies in little things: "We can do not great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it."...It is easy to fall in love with the great things...but we must never simply fall in love with our vision or our five-year plan.

Wow, that really hits me. Maybe it's from the routine of always having a four-year plan growing up (thank you, high school and college), or maybe it's just me liking to set concrete goals (because let's face it, I'm good at math, not abstract thoughts)...I'm not sure what, but the uncertainty and ambiguity of this life after college, lots of times leaves me feeling overwhelmed. I always question my purpose and feel I need to do something spectacular with my life. But these words have opened my eyes immensely. Why do I let myself get caught up in the thinking about great things instead of taking time to love the small things I'm doing?

And as if this wasn't enough, I went to church with Romi yesterday and felt like (yet again because this happens to me all the time at Watershed) the message was specifically for me. The pastor used a passage from Matthew where Jesus says, "...And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet..." Even though he is a king, he is serving his people, loving on his people. The pastor continued to talk about service, and encouraged us to think about how we are loving and caring for people every day. Can you see the connection? It brought me right back to the passage in the book. I may have these great ideas, but am I serving other people while I figure out my life? I love working at the colegio down here and teaching these Chilean teenagers, but am I truly serving them? Am I doing it with great love? (Granted, you all know how much I hate mornings, so thankfully I don't have to love them super early...my first class starts at 8:50 :) Am I serving my new friends and Chilean family around me (and not just the ones I'm related to)?

Guess what, I've already started planning for what I'm going to do when I get back to the States. When I step back and think about it, though, is that what I should be doing right now? Why do I feel the need to focus on something so far in the future? Who am I serving and loving whole-heartedly (ha, some of my English students just learned the expression 'half-heartedly' in class last week, sweet!) right now??

Another amazing connection I made between yesterday's service and the book (look at me learning how to analyze literature haha) was when the pastor said this:
"Serviente es quien personalmente toma los intereses de otro como si fueran los suyos propios."
Okay, now go figure out what that means! Hahah just kidding. He said, "A servant is one who personally takes on the interests of someone else as if they were his own." Dang, that's powerful. Take on someone else's interests? (I already have a hard enough time with my own!!) But seriously, can you imagine doing that? I know a few people in my life that I think already do that...but it's very few. And, in no way, do I feel like I do that on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. And why not?

In other words, I also think he's saying, serve, care for, listen to, spend time with, teach, talk to...people, with great love.

It's all connected. We're all connected. I've made so many friends already in my short time in Chile. I run into and meet tons of new people every day (lots of times I have no idea what they're saying, haha but I'm getting there.) I connect with all of you from back home as much as possible. I work with three teachers and 500 students every week. I sit by a grandmother, a baby, a teenager, a father every day on the metro. How am I serving? How am I loving?