The Christmas Basket

Christmas is so much different in Guatemala than it is in the States.  At least for me.

While in the States Christmas is a busy time full of Christmas parties, Christmas plays, hurried shopping, baking, cleaning, wrapping gifts, and generally being overwhelmed with the urgency of it all - in Guatemala the pace is slower. 

Guatemalan schools are in the middle of a 3 month break and many businesses here shut down for 2 weeks during Christmas contributing to the laid back feel. 

CrossCulture Jesús closes its doors for our missionaries to spend time with their families.  Our ministry base lies still, quietly awaiting a New Year full of new miracles and to be filled once again with the pitter patter of hundreds of Little feet and to be ringing with the songs and laughs of just as many happy faces.

Despite the down-time, I still have things to do.  Perhaps almost as much as during the year as there are administrative aspects of closing the year that must be atended to.

So on this particular day I found myself alone at Brazos Abiertos.  The rooms looked eery and empty.  There were no crafts spread across the tables.  There was no one in the kitchen cutting, chopping, and preparing meals.  There were no worship songs reverberating down the stairs.  There was no gentle jesting between staff memebers. 

The whole place seemed asleep, yet expectant.

I finished what needed to be done then stepped across the Street to purchase tortillas.  Doña Ana was there with the newest baby strapped to her back.  It was between rush times so the ladies were sitting on cheap plastic stools that wobbled on the uneven dirt floor.  The "comal" (flat griddle used for making tortillas) was void of the usual array of tortillas and was now being occupied by a huge pot of beans on one end and a simmering mass of scrambled eggs on the other. 

We exchanged Greetings when all of the sudden children seem to spring out of the woodwork.  "Aunt Sarita! Aunt Sarita! We haven't seen you for ages!" they shouted with Glee as the clambered over one another in an effort to give out hugs and kisses. 

These children, who did not get Christmas presents this year, and to the casual observer live in poverty, are overflowing with love and affection.  What they lack in material possesions they make up for in love, trust, and joy. 

The tortilla order was ready and I was turning to go when the ladies, giggling among themselves, shyly called out to me.  "Aunt Sarita, take this basket as a small token of our affection".  From under the counter they produced a pale blue plastic basket.  The kind the Guatemalans use for all types of kitchen chores. 

It was a simple gift.  An inexpensive gift.  But a gift from the heart.  From a family who has nothing given to a person who has all she needs. 

It was a profound gift, speaking to me about the true meaning of Christmas, about sacrifice, about giving all we have to show love and kindness to others.  It was an empty Christmas basket, yet filled full with appreciation and devotion. 

It was a giving back for all CCJ has given through out the year. 

And so, I share my Christmas basket with YOU, who have partnerned with CCJ and made sacrifices of your own to ensure that this ministry would continue. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.  May 2015 find your basket of your heart overflowing with with peace, love, joy, hope and faith in every promise of God for your family.