BEAUTIFUL TO ME

“This new plan I am making with my people isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone. This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts.”  Hebrews  8

A wise person once asked  the question,

“What is beautiful to you?”

The answer to that will tells us alot about the plans God  has written on our hearts.

Things Beautiful to me that bring tears of joy to my eyes and whirls of excitement in my belly:

Handing the women in our class raw materials…..sea glass, beads and old buttons, aluminum pendants ( made right in jubilee ) and 20 minutes later they begin calling my name to look at the lovely pieces of jewelry they have crafted.   Seeing their faces when they KNOW they have made something remarkable.  They  themselves…..yo memn.  That is beautiful to me!
Watching a small plot of land in this place called Jubilee, a  dry and dusty plain, morph into to a place where  well water spills over and creates an irrigated , community garden.  It has been an arduous process, and it is not quite lush yet… but it is the community garden and it is planted with banana trees, papayas…militon. It springs up HOPE  …it is beautiful to me !
The Gazebo.it is the center piece in this community….an open air structure, newly reconstructed with sturdy   4 x 4 s and grass mats for the roof.  It is beautiful and it serves as some sweet shade with benches built all around.  Trees and flowers are planted….Pray that they take root and live!  It is a place for serious  conversations, a place to sit and day dream, a place to play games with kids and laugh with the old people.  It serves as on office and place to nap in the heat of the day…it is beautiful to me!
Local nurses and mid-wives that have been serving in Jubilee receive knowledge and affirmation and stethoscopes, thermometers and blood pressure cuffs…this is beautiful to me!
Benson, is a young man, who has been faithful with what he has, using his talents to do book binding for teachers, fellow students and bibles for churches….he has been sharing his knowledge with others.  We have had 4 weeks of journal making classes.  And because of the character and intelligence of this young man,  eight people in Jubilee  have jobs making journals !  This is beautiful to me!
A mom with three kids moving from a dilapidated grass, mud house into a newly community constructed sturdy block home..painted bright and clean.   This is beautiful to me!
Fishermen hauling in their nets and they are full. ..
Local farmers coming together to petition for a well for their land.  The money is being raised by a good friend and soon these farmers will have water for the dry season to sustain their crops!
Children learning to form letters, to form words. So that one day the whole world can know what great thoughts they have!  Holy young women who daily give their lives so this can be so.  They are beautiful to me!
The initial run of the Trade School is coming to a close this week.   IT has been 6 weeks of finding our way…sitting in the dirt, standing in the sun, hauling boxes on our heads at times and being uncertain of the next right step. Truly we have laughed and cried!   But it has been six weeks of growing friendships, putting names to the faces and the faces of their children,  discovering who can write and who helps those who can’t, watching beauty and dignity and hope and freedom grow.

It is a tentative thing, This thing we call  Hope. Like the plants we’ve planted around the gazebo.

There is an innate code that tells them  to stretch out those roots, take hold of the nutrients and moisture outside of their small well known space… and grow.

But it takes Hope to make that effort.

The same for us humans.

We are hosting our second Art Festival this afternoon.  There will be jewelry and wind chimes, journals and benches displayed.  All things created and crafted right here in Jubilee….even the Fresco Cart is scheduled to come !   ( I will no doubt be his best customer!)  A wonderful team of visitors is awaiting the opportunity to buy gifts to take home…even a few UN officers are promising to come buy things for their wives and children!

A small thing,  but a seed of hope. Beautiful to me.