“What do you wanna drink?” I’m looking in the dark brown eyes of a homeless teenager who just got of the local bus and earned some money with playing his guitar and singing songs – before I can answer the question he walks away and comes back with 2 bottles of Ice tea, one for me and one for my friend – “here”..and hands me the bottle. “So are you already longtime in Indonesia?” he asks. I stumble over my words as I’m so touched by the generosity of this teenager.
It’s a
couple of days after Christmas and in the last few days I’ve learned more about
Christmas then I did the last 26 years. I struggled so much with “getting in in
Christmas mood” since its hot and again no white Christmas this year. No
familiar family traditions or gatherings. But a tropical Christmas, like the
one last year and the one in 2009. As I struggled with how does Christmas look
like, and do I need to get in the Christmas mood, and what is that Christmas
mood. And as I was surrendering my struggle and my stuck places to God. I felt
that He was whispering about His gift to the world, and that Christmas is about
giving and sharing. Now a couple of days later in the hot shining sun, in the
strong smell of the local pasar, garbage and people who did not shower for some
days, where the pollusion of a 20 million people city sticks to my skin I find
the answer to what Christmas is about: giving and sharing with each other. Like
God did, He gave His son to the world: the ultimate gift! My heart flows over in
thankfulness and in the midst of this dark and yukkie place. I see a glimps of God’s
love coming down.
And as we
were sitting down all of a sudden lots of beautiful bright colored butterflies
filled the sky and fluttering around us, yellow, blue, green, purple and orange.
God is showing beauty in this dark place, remembering that there is Hope and
new life for everyone. Remembering this quote: “ What the caterpillar
thought it was the end of the world, the Creator calls a butterfly.”
His Love
gifts, His Christmas gifts to me this year, so I can give away..
That
evening we headed downtown to celebrate Christmas with a bunch of(ex)
transgenders and people from different parts of the world. Lots of hearts,
including mine, got touched by the love of God. I could truly celebrate Christmas
this year, and felt so happy and richly blessed as we were jumping and singing
Joy to the world and when we waved with our hands in the sky while singing glo-ria
in excelsis deo. Singing with all my heart: Glory to God in the Highest!
And a
Christmas to never forget!
