Haiti has a beautiful spirit.
I think that is what made it so sad for me to have to leave. The people there are ready to love you and accept you into their community. The kids are eager to hug you and fall asleep in your lap. There is a sense of rest in Haiti, even amid the poverty and chaos.
Something I started thinking about while I was in Haiti is what it means to have faith like a child. In Mark, Jesus tells his disciples that he who does not have faith like a child will not enter the Kingdom of God. I had never really seen what that looks like until we went spent time in one of the villages and as we sat around with kids having our hair braided, cradling little ones who had dozed off for their afternoon naps, the kids started to sing.
Bless the Lord o, my soul.
O my soul.
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before.
O my soul.
I worship Your holy name.
Lord I worship Your holy name.
It was beautiful, innocent, and full of the spirit. These kids have a wonderful love for God that can only be described as deep trust. They love singing about God. They carry their little Bibles around, flipping through its pages. You can hear them singing as loud as they can on Sunday mornings. It is beautiful and incredible because of all people, it’s easy to think that these kids have the little reason to trust in God. Their parents are dead or have given them up. Many of them were malnourished. Some want nothing more than to learn English but they don’t have money to pay for classes.
Yet they trust God anyway.
It’s a simple yet intense trust. And it is not only seen in the kids but in many Haitians.Their attitude towards faith is something I envy. It is beautiful and simple yet powerful.
They trust in what God says. They lean on his promises. They choose to trust that God will take care of them, and if something doesn’t go quite right, then there must have been a reason for it and they will worship him all the same. It is beautiful and powerful so be surrounded by faith that strong and pure.
Before I went to Haiti it had been a long time since I read my Bible. I had spent a lot of time thinking about its flaws and how to reconcile the fact that Bible is 100% God and yet 100% human. I got really frustrated with how irrelevant it seemed and just took a step back for a while. In the United States it seems there are two extremes: We question nothing or we question everything.
I am someone who questions everything. I am terrified of believing something just because I was raised that way or have never thought about it. I deconstruct how I think about everything. Which can be very good and I think is necessary.
But something I learned in Haiti is even if I am in the mid of pulling everything I believe apart, there is a ground level I can always land on; at the very least I trust that God loves me and that I should love other people. Simple and powerful. Everything builds from there.
It is a very freeing and refreshing feeling to have that foundation.
Friends, Haiti is a wonderful place. I very sincerely hope that everyone one of you will visit sometime. It is very much a spiritual experience.
with love,
J.
The Patio 