Wake up! It’s a Bucket brigade!
Or maybe I should call this One bucket at a
time???
I am always amazed when God smacks me in
the face. It’s like He wants to say to me “WAKE UP SABRINA!!!! Stop being so
dense!” It’s even more shocking when He does it in slow mo…you know the ninja
fighter slow motion where I see it coming but I am moving in quicksand time as
well.
I had the opportunity to go to La Coyotera
and Los Torres recently. Just a last minute, “Sure I will come along! “ Both
communities are getting geared up for the start of the long digging process to
put in their water lines. Both communities are going into this next phase with
eyes wide open. The helped in El Moto and our Leadership training team has
gotten VERY good at guiding and preparing them. So as we were all chatting in
Los Torres, the “jefes’ turned on the newly dug well to just see the water
pressure and the show a few people with us how the system worked.
I was hot [of course , this IS Nicaragua]
and standing in the shade and watching……at first the community just watched the
water pour out. Then, a few smart moms ran – yes, ran, to get every available
bucket to fill. Literally, within 5 minutes there was a line of ladies with
buckets to be filled. It didn’t stop there. Oh no! The big bowls came out and
the smaller buckets. Even pitchers were filled. When everyone had their fill,
the kids then came. Filling small bowls and dumping them on their heads.
Playing in the mud that was created. Sitting under the pipe and just letting
the water flow over them. I watched and smiled at the commotion, and pondered
how hard must it be to haul water from a well, that this little test of the
pressure of the new well was now a mini celebration?
Then God decided to smack me.
The woman next to me, Lethbía, had her filled buckets and was watching too.
We chatted and I asked her a little about her life….kids, husband …the usually
chitchat. And then I watched the slow motion slap….. She has 2 children. One 7,
and one 13. She is pushing for them to
go to school. It is hard because she is now a widow and washes clothes for a
living (yes, the water will be a blessing for HER). I said “Oh I am sorry….what
happened.?” And she replied…last year as some children were swimming in the
river….where they also get water and wash their clothes… one child started to
drown. Her husband jumped in to save the neighbor’s child. He hit his head on a
rock in the current [ his river is HUGE] and DIED. Right there. In front of
them.
Smack.
Here is a good man. Trying to do a good
thing. In a poor difficult situation. Dead.
And then the kicker….today was her 29th
birthday. She was really happy that on her birthday she didn’t have to either
go to this SAME river to get water or UP a giant ass hill to a hand pump.
Happy Birthday.
SSSSMMMMMAAAAACCCCK!
I have pondered this story for a few
days. Was he a saint? No, just a normal
man. But God sure loves to give us perspective. Everywhere around us REAL life
is happening. Joys and sorrows. We get so caught up in the minutia, that we
fail to see the opportunity we have to fill our souls with gratitude. The are Starbucks
cups stories and news people telling us to be afraid, and here was a woman,
happy on her birthday because she had a peek into their future with water at
the house.
We have immense opportunity to help really change the world with our immense blessings.
We can do this and be grateful at the same
time. One bucket at a time.
Thank you God for the smack, and the
reminder of my full bucket. Now, I will go fill others.
Lethbía on her birthday by the posts where the solar panels will be finished soon
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