her bubblegum giving

Yesterday me and Marvelly went for a walk around the neighborhood. Well, neighborhood may stretching it. It is no neighborhood to what we are accustomed to in the states. There are no sidewalks, cul de sacs, yards, no driveways, or picket fences. There are dirt roads with gates. And lots of garbage. But, it is a neighborhood to us, even if it is not traditional by American standards. And I like to walk it.

Before we left I filled Marvelly's pockets with BubbleGum. Whenever I leave the house I fill my bag with little snacks that I can hand out if need be. But I decided this week to try something. I decided that I wanted to give Marvelly more opportunities to give as well.

Marvelly is home with me all day, since she won't be starting school until next year. And I've just been praying for her a lot lately that the Lord would really use this time here in Burkina to give her a heart for these people. That He would use her to carry His light and love to people around her. That even at four years old He would begin developing passions within her and planting purpose in her heart.

And one easy way that I felt she could get involved serving more was to hand out Bubblegum on our walks. So before we left the house yesterday after I filled up her pockets with a couple pieces, I told her, "Marvelly, I'm putting this gum in your pocket. If you see a boy or girl on our walk that you think would like a piece of gum, you can share one with them."

Handing out gum to street children may not be the most monumental earth shattering serving project, but for a four year old, it is something that she can do easily.....

Bubblegum giving provides her, all on her own, with an opportunity to be on the watch for someone she can give to.
It encourages her to observe her surroundings and SEE people.
It provides her with an opportunity to stop and be the one to reach in and dig out the gum and place it in the out stretched hands.
She gets to participate being used by Jesus to look into the eyes of someone her size and brighten their day with a smile and a little extra bubblegum sweetness.
 
And as we walked and turned the corner from our road it wasn't too long until we approached two boys, one was asleep in the dirt on the side of the road and the other was sitting on his red tomato tin. I waited to see what Marvelly would do, and all on her own without any shyness or hesitancy or promptings from me, she said,

"Look Mom! There's a boy! I'm going to give him some gum."

So she stopped in front of the boy, who looked on with curious eyes, pulled her shirt up and tucked it under her chin, and dug deep in her pockets to give him some gum.

Today we went for another walk, to a coffee date with a group of moms, and before we left I put some more gum in her pockets, and told her the same thing. As we walked on, two young kids, a boy and a girl were standing next to their father figures veggie cart and as they saw us walking up the road they started waving and smiling and jumping up and down. I looked down at Marvelly and she was smiling softly to herself. As we approached them I bent down to say "bonjour" and Marvelly was already busy diggin' in those pockets of hers to pull out some gum to share with them. She handed each kid of piece and they giggled and squealed in delight as they looked at their gift. We waved goodbye and walked on.

It's simple really, bubblegum giving.
I love the simplicity actually.
I love that this is something that Marvelly can "own" and do and take pride in.
It's an easy way to incorporate giving into her everyday life.
It's an opportunity to help break down barriers and form bridges between her and other Burkinabé   
children.

I know this may not be the most earth shattering idea, but hey, Jesus can use simple. And Jesus can use Marvelly. And Marvelly can hand out bubble gum for Jesus. Ya know, sometimes I think we just over complicate things. We over complicate how we can be used by Jesus. We think we have to have this really cool original idea. But I am just not convinced that God cares how "big" our projects are by the world's standards.

I don't think He cares how much money we raise,
how many kids we sponsor,
wells we dig,
school supplies we donate,
how many diseases we treat,
or orphans we feed.

The world measures success by numbers. How many and how much. But God doesn't measure us by man's standards. God has his own yard stick and his own set of standards. He doesn't get caught up in the "bigness" of what we're doing. He just wants us to show love. To smile. To make eye contact. To see and not look away. To shake a hand. To share a piece of gum. To be obedient to do whatever it is He's called us to. To be willing to do the small things. Jesus is in the small stuff. But, then again...when Jesus is involved....even the small stuff isn't small.

That's what's so great about it. The small stuff isn't really small. That is the secret.