embrace

We sat at the pizza place across the street from my apartment, as I asked her what she would miss the most about the United States.  I have asked this question to so many of my dear friends from around the world this year and I usually get about the same answer.   They will either miss the people or the food.   It doesn't take them long to answer it and it is always as if they read that is what they should say in a book or something.  Expecting the same answer, I waited patiently for her response, but it never came.  Instead, she sat there thinking.  Then came an answer that I knew was full of thought and really what she would miss the most.

She said hugs.

I remember when she first came and we would hug her.  It was awkward to say the least.  Later she told me that before those first days she had never really hugged anyone outside her family before and even within her family it was rare.  She explained to me how strange hugs were to her and how she didn't even know where to place her head.  That soon changed. She quickly became one of my most warm and hugged friends.

She said she feels loved through hugs.

Again this summer I work with children ages 3 to 4.  As much as I try to enjoy them, somedays when the toilet is clogged, the entire box of cheerios becomes the artwork decorating the floor, and a bottle of orange paint is used as make-up, within ten mintues, I want to run and hide.  However, this is usually about the time they redeem themselves through a hug. A true three year olds hug comes out of nowhere.  It usually involves either a full-on run at you when you are sitting on the ground or a magnetic attraction to your leg, but either way you know that they whole-heartly mean it.  They wholeheartedly love you for you being you.  The wholeheartedly love you for loving them.  Their hugs have saved me many "bad" days and always seem to bring me back the next day with a smile on my face.  

Thank you Lord for the ability to love others through simple actions.  Without even saying a word we send a message that says exactly how we feel.
A simple hug meant more to one girl, becoming something she will never forget.
A simple hug reminds me of why I am there, just when I am about to forget.  

Near the end of the semester I found a website that had suggests on how to greet or not greet international students.  I clicked on Japan and it strongly suggested not to hug people from this culture, as they are not accustomed to it.  I laughed at how we had done the exact opposite.

The world seems to say a "simple" action isn't enough.  It screams "bigger is better" but I think the Lord works His biggest in the simplest.
And thats why I love to thank Him for the simplest in the biggest of ways.