Since my return from Haiti just over 2 weeks ago, I feel like all I’ve done is sit in my backyard watching the antics of the the hummingbirds drinking nectar from my flowers and geckos dancing along my wall. Oh and tending to our new puppy! (Who’s idea was that?)
Honestly, I think I have a bit of PTSD from the last 3 months of my life, my son’s graduation, a crazed schedule, Haiti with the whole family.
And Haiti deserves more than just a few platitudes about “how great it was”. So I’ve taken my time.
I always see God more clearly in Haiti, away from distractions and comforts of life in the US, and I want to share my experience from a place of honest reflection, not surface conversation.
One of Healing Haiti mission’s core beliefs is that God can use Haiti to teach and change us not just the other way around. Because of this, we encourage our short-term missionaries to ask themselves “What is God trying to teach me?” God moves powerfully when people trust and obey, traveling across an ocean to serve in one of the poorest places in the Western Hemisphere. People are changed because of it.
Each member of my team.
And Me.
After much prayer, (and lots of staring at flowers, wildlife and one white, fluffy, frolicking, trouble making ball of fur in my back yard) I concluded my experience in Haiti can be described using the fruit of the spirit Paul writes about in Galatians.
As followers of Christ, we strive to display this fruit in our lives, as a testament to God’s Holy Spirit living in us. That isn’t always easy, and some “fruit” is easier to come by than others, at least for me. In Haiti, I experienced or witnessed all of these fruits. In abundance.
It was a veritable basket overflowing with what I will call “The Fruit of Haiti. ”
Love: I am a “love your neighbor” girl. It’s what I believe everyone should do – no matter where you are, at work, at home, at school, in your city or state, or in a third world country, like Haiti.
But I really love loving my neighbor in Haiti. Each time I go there, my love for the Haitians grows even more. I feel an unexpected affinity for them, and when I see their bright, deep toned faces – especially those of the young teenagers we’ve grown to love who are our guest house neighbors – I feel a depth of love for them like few others, especially given the short time we get together.
But they also love us unconditionally, and I believe that’s born from their faith and love for God.
Joy: All it takes is one trip to a water stop in Cite Soleil, in the midst of terrible depravity and hardship, to find true joy. When these children- with little to nothing to call their own – reach their arms up to perfect strangers beckoning us to hold them and love them – I see true joy in their eyes.
When you stand amidst garbage, filth, defecation, and poverty unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed, and sing of the greatness of God with half-naked children jumping for joy, that is when you know this is joy like no other.
This is the Joy of Haiti. Amidst “nothing”, they seem to have what many who have much are missing.
Peace: In Haiti, I feel peace, even when the schedule and plan don’t go as I thought. Even when the heat rises, the dust thickens and at times the morale lessens, I feel peace. Even when I’m sleep deprived, out of my comfort zone and pressed to the max of all my abilities to lead, I feel peace. When I hold a tiny baby in with not even a diaper on his bottom, I am at peace.
God gives me peace in Haiti because much of what enslaves me in my “normal” life is absent. I am trapped by my possessions, my schedule, my commitments, my plans, my “connectedness” to others, my to-do list, my obligations.
In Haiti, I let go of those things, if even for just 8 days, and I am at peace.
This is all I can put into words today. I look forward to sharing the remaining fruit of Haiti with you in the coming days and weeks.
[reminder]Where have you witnessed the fruits of Love, Joy and Peace in your life lately? [/reminder]