A Smile Worth the Ache and Every Minute Counts

Tonight was the Christmas program and Santa Clause came and brought gifts for the students. Each student left the program with sweets, a handkerchief, and a baseball cap or hair clips. Joy was evident on every bright face with a wide smile. I ran to the kitchen ahead of the kids to get some flour and eggs and couldn’t help but notice the fancy feast of four different curries and hard boiled eggs that had been prepared for the all who had attended the Christmas program. It looked as if a few hands would be helpful with the serving, and I always love coming during meal time to serve the kids. When the students came in with their big smiles and clips in their hair or caps on their head they formed two single file lines, the boys on one side and girls on the other. The boys are my favorite because they are so shy and when they don’t understand my English they just smile and it stretches a smile across my own face. One boy, who I always notice to be polite and shy, came through line and continued coming back for the sweet rice with milk that I was serving. I think maybe five or six times he came through, and every time I would look at him as if he shouldn’t be coming so many times, but with his shy smile I was smiling all night long and when we got back home my cheeks were feeling quite sore. It’s so easy to serve with a smile when it comes to those kids in line; the smile is most definitely worth the ache. God is teaching me a lot about service. I often forget my purpose for serving God by serving others because I am so distracted by all the things to do here. Another thing I’ve been struggling with is time, it’s the choleric in me that will kill me at a young age. I was raised in a home where everything is done in a timely and efficient manner and there’s no time for small talk. So when a student comes to my house to visit and I look at the clock 2 hours later and they’re still there, all I can think about is everything that needs to be done before it gets dark so I rush the conversation to an end. It’s something that is really hard for me and I do it all the time. I have all the time in the world here, what is rushing me? I need to take the time to read a book, sing a song, play a game of hop-scotch, have a two hour conversation with an eleven-year-old, or say a silent prayer. What does every minute count for?