Living in the Present Moment

"There's a reason they call God a presence--because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time." --Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love


The time has come for yet another blog post. I have a few stories to share with you, and there are just a handful of present moments where God has been obvious. In reality, the stories and moments have been too many to count, let alone share, but I hope these will suffice.


For the past month plus, I've been wanting to visit Elsa again. Elsa is an extremely poor invasion community about a 20 minute walk from our house. We have some friends that live out there, including one of my favorite families. Yet unfortunately, I wasn't able to go until about a week and a half ago (the 22nd), but it was well worth the wait. The family we visited lives in complete poverty, but their joy and energy never cease to amaze me.  Even playing jenga with 9 pieces or a free toothpaste game excited them more than almost anything could excite me. Their ability to fill me up with love--with God--is astonishing. Those kids are incredibly special, and what makes it better is that their mom wants a better life for them--better education than what they're receiving, better health care, everything. I feel lucky to share in the struggles and joys faced by this particular family, and only hope I can visit more often.


The same day, I went to the Anitas' house (the mom and 2 girls, 16 and 8, are all named Anita, and they are awesome). I was just hanging out when one girl brings out the 16 year old's shoes. Naturally, I try on a pair of really run heels (we're the same size). Little Anita wanted a picture, and after finding the camera, a dress was shoved into my arms. I guess the clothes I had on just weren't good enough. I changed into the dress and heels, walked out, and after some ooos and aaahhs and photos, was then given 3 more dresses to try on and model. They were loving it, and I was also having a lot of fun in the moment, while also wondering what was going on. At the end, the mom decided to give me one of the dresses--something that looks like a sexy 80's little black dress. She told me to take a picture of me and my family in the dress when I'm back home and send it to her, and to remember her whenever I wear it. I was flabberghasted. I've been gifted some pretty crazy things here, but they almost all have to do with food--ice cream, yogurt, buckets of fruit, barretts. I still don't know my complete reaction, but I'm touched by her generosity and the generosity I receive every day.


A medical group from the US was here last week, and while I personally had no affiliation, my housemate Liz helped them every day as part of her worksite. Since some of my mornings are free, I decided to go in on Monday to check it out. The team performed 25 surgeries on kids with bone problems from the hip down, and I witnessed parts of the first two--live, in the OR! One was correcting the hip of a 5 year old boy, and I saw the doctors cut the femur and drill a metal plate in. The other was correcting an 18 month's feet, since the ankle connected to the middle of the foot. I got to be mere feet away from the surgeries, which is something I can't imagine would ever happen back home. It was beautiful to know that these surgeries could easily change the lives of these kids, and while maybe I didn't help, witnessing was pretty incredible.


Last night, as you probably know, was Halloween. Here, that means practically nothing. "Dia del Oscuro" is hardly celebrated, but we wanted to do something fun for the kids in our neighborhood.  We threw a mini party that included caramel corn, cookies, homemade pumpkin pie, arts and crafts, and face painting. The neighbors loved it! The food was devoured, faces were painted with ghosts, pumpkins, and moustaches (which one of those does not belong...), and before you know it, it turned into a full on paint war. At this point, it was just the 3 of us and about 10 kids. I ended up being covered head to toe in paint, especially my face and arms, of whatever color they could find. We may have started neighborhood vendettas, but...it's all fun and games, right? Probably my best Halloween yet, and it was pure chaos.


Those are some of the big moments where God has been clearly present in the last few weeks, but (s)he has been everywhere. Particularly when I look back, I am amazed by "the quiet miracles that seek no attention" (John O Donohue). I realize the greatness of God in my small daily interactions and I am humbled. Humbled that God is so vast, so loving, so good. Humled that I can partake in God's story, that I can be the body of Christ. I'm not saying that I'm a perfect body, but I am humbled by the power of the Spirit and that I have the ability to act as the living Christ at all. I am humbled by the generosity of the people around me, by the love from kids who have received such little love, by families who do anything to make a good life for their kids. In all of this I see Christ, and by all of this I realize that God is a presence. God is here, in us, right now, working constantly through people's goodness. I don't want to romantacize anything because clearly we are all human, and in some people it is difficult to see Christ. But that doesn't mean the Spirit isn't acting in some way, whispering to us, pushing us to choose love. So that's what I'm doing--trying to listen and choose love every moment that I can.


Until next time, paz y amor.