Unlocking the soul

They say the eyes are the window to the soul. What they fail to mention is that for many those windows have a guarded shade down. I will tell you a secret about disarming that guard, but first there are some things we must agree on…

Life in Mozambique is hard. Life in America is hard, too, but take away the anesthetization of losing one’s self in busyness or a job or overeating or television or sex or alcohol and what is left but really facing life?

Yes, some can be the same here. But then much of the trouble in Mozambique is compounded by lack of food, money, recent history of war, the AIDS pandemic that has claimed the lives of family members. And a third world country does not provide the same comforts that we may know.

As I drive through the village with American eyes, the look I see in theirs as they look back at me might be hopelessness, desperation, curiosity, apprehension, or something I have not yet identified correctly.

For one who comes from a culture where I’ve never been in the minority, to have so many new eyes on you can be intimidating -- and interpreting them – near impossible and usually wrong. But the eyes are, as we have stated, the window to the soul so it is worth our time to take another step in and see what we can find.

This next step, I believe is the key.

The next step… is actually very simple… it is to say ‘hello’. Somehow the voice, reaching out over the airwaves, is a connector and often the key which can unlock a guarded soul. Whether it was apprehension, or curiosity, or maybe hopelessness, this “Bom Dia” is a peace offering from one to another. One of respect and hope – nearly always returned with a sudden smile and reciprocal greeting. It is truly a magical moment, disarming for the American, too. This is the moment we realize that in the face of hunger, disease, uncertainty, and loss, there is something more powerful still. And this power of one human reaching out to another, even in this simple way, that is the power of the living God in us. Amen.