greatest good

Josanne and Michael
visit us several times a week; sometimes daily.
Josanne is the only little girl who comes to our gate looking for work.
She's sweet, and is always so delighted when we give her jobs. She sometimes comes alone, but often with a friend.

Michael is quiet and serious, and likes to work.
One day I had the two of them prepare mga gulay (vegetables) for dinner.
They were very happy scrubbing and peeling and cutting up the carrots and potatoes.

Another day Josanne brought two friends along to ask for a job,
so we had them wash the car.
(Our car has to be the cleanest in town!)
As they worked, a Filipina friend who was in the house with me translated some of their chatter. Josanne was giving instructions on how to wash the car.
"First you wash this part, then you scrub this..."

Can you even begin to imagine children of 8 and 10 years old wandering the streets each day looking for work? I find myself wishing that I could give them regular employment; make it possible for them to go to school; 'fix' things for them. But though we can encourage them with some work,
and demonstrate something of God's love,
yet we are not and never will be the answer to their deepest need.

So I want to approach serving them with an attitude of how I can listen, learn, see, and come alongside of them. I want our outlook to be assets based, not needs based; acknowledging and honoring what these children have and then building on that.

More than anything, I want to help them to see God as the source of all good. To look to Him, and no other to meet their need!

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.
Psalm 73:28