Legos… Do you remember these fun little toy building pieces? Did you ever have the pleasure of piecing them together to make a vehicle, tower, town, home, etc? I think that legos are one of the most consistent and long lasting toys that have been around for a while. During this last week, while I was working, I got to play with and put away a bunch of legos, but let me tell you about the first time I ever played with them.
When I was quite young, just 3 or 4 years old, I had the unexpected pleasantness of receiving a gift of legos. I remember my first time getting out the legos to play with them. I had them all sprawled out all over the floor, as I sat near the wood stove, on a cold Maine winter morning. The colors were vibrant and the things that I was making seemed pretty cool too! I was just having a wonderful time with my new found treasure!
In an unanticipated and upsetting moment, my biological mother entered into the room and walked across it in her bare feet. Needless to say, the hundreds of little sharp pieces of legos lying around with their sharp edges poking out did not leave much of a chance for her to make it across the room without a close and personal encounter. Sure enough, she stepped directly upon some of the legos and immediately became very upset with me. She smacked me hard against the back of my head, grabbed a broom from the kitchen, swept up all my legos into a dustpan, and then proceeded to deposit the contents of the dustpan directly into the hot burning fireplace. Needless to say, I had been greatly upset and affected by this act of anger.
As this was one of my earliest childhood memories that is still quite vivid today in my memory, I do not recall ever getting a chance again in my entire life to just sit with and enjoy legos, since that day. This week however, as I worked to organize toys, supplies, etc. in a bodega for the home I am volunteering at, I came across thousands and thousands of little lego pieces! It made me very pleased to be able to clean them, play with them, and organize them for the home!
As I was doing so I sensed that God was challenging me to let go of my own personal hurt from my childhood experience. At that time I also sensed God healing me and giving me an expectancy of being able to play with kids in the future, using legos! While I am not sure of the specifics of when or how that will happen, whether it will be here in this children’s home or in one of my own in the future, but it truly felt like a redeeming moment! It’s a blessings to know that God does not just have me serving Abogar here in Guatemala to be helping the children, but that part of His reason for me being here is also for healing and blessing for me as well! Praise God that I am learning to lego (let go) of some past trauma and hurts, and allowing Him the opportunity to bring about redeeming moments!
