Beholding Beauty

This morning Michelle (one of our Chinese staff) and I officially took charge of Fanfan due to some issues. We took her out to ice cream and then to a park in a university. While we were there, I had some time to reflect about some things that God has been working on in my heart, and I jotted down some of my feelings in a notebook. This is what I wrote:

Today as I watch Fanfan run around with my camera snapping photos of passing strangers and giggling with glee the cliché statement that, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” comes to mind. The world looks at Fanfan and has marked her as worthless and ugly, but to me she is beautiful. As I think of my sinful nature, I realize that she is not beautiful to me because of what I have seen in her, but because of what the Holy Spirit has shown me about her. She is silly, independent, dramatic, and inspiring, but most of all she is a child of the Living God. In just two short days the Lord has opened my heart to pour out unconditional love on this rejected child who can give me nothing in return, and the Holy Spirit has given me such joy in the experience! Valerie (one of our BMH staff) read a verse out of I Corinthians 1 a few days ago that said to follow after Christ and fulfill His commandments is foolishness to the world, and I think many worldly people would say that investing a summer into orphans and five days into Fanfan IS foolishness because what is there to gain from a poor, handicap orphan? In their eyes I receive nothing, but as a follower of Jesus Christ I know better. The Holy Spirit is working in me the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, faithfulness, and gentleness, as well as teaching me a selfless love that is hard to understand. If I take away only this from my entire seven weeks in China, it will be enough.