Imagine receiving your first hug as a teenager. This comes after spending all of your life belonging to another. Not as a child or a friend to be loved, but as an object, an appliance; like an old vacuum you are loaned to your neighbor. You have no belongings, no time for yourself, no time to play, no one to love you… you live in a house but everyday it is made clear that you are not at home. No one knows or cares if you have feelings, they disregard your desires, they trample on your rights, and they use every ounce of your strength, and give you nothing but food scraps to replenish it. In their minds and in your own you are no more human than the stray dog that begs for scraps at the door. You’ve come to believe that your life does not matter.
Now imagine one year later, sleeping in a bed for the first time. Imagine waking to find that, for the first time in your life, the sun has risen before you and you don’t have a long list of chores awaiting you… so you go out and relax with your “family.” Imagine going to church for the first time in life and the pastor is preaching directly to you saying “Yesterday is gone, and everything is about to change. God is going to do something with your life. Even the misery will turn out for your good.” Watching everyone around you closely, you do what they do. You lift up your hands and you say amen, but not just to copy them, but because you have already seen the first-fruits of the pastor’s words. For once you are surrounded by people who love you, and for the first time you start to feel it. They show it. They hug you, the smile with you, they joke with you, they eat at the same table with you, they share their belongings with you, they provide for you… you have a place at home with two strangers that you now call “Mami” and “Papi,” and they deserve the title because of the love that they show. You share a room with a “sister” that you had never known, and she loans you her mother’s sunglasses so that you can be styling at church. For the first time, you no longer belong to the home… the home belongs to you. You no longer belong to a family, you have a family of your own. In this you see for the first time that you actually do matter.
If that were you, your cheeks would hurt too after smiling and laughing non-stop for days… It’s a wonder to behold. Its a privilege to take part in. I really love my job. I get to sit in the front row and watch lives transform.
