Thursday, March 25, 2010

Two Hugs


Yesterday I got a real hug. Not one out of sexual desire, not one out of pity, not an obligatory hug, just a love hug. It was tight and innocent and followed by a sigh and a "I love you soooo much." I thought my heart was going to burst right there. As I reflected on this I thought back to my new friend Twee I wrote about earlier. I thought back to the hug I received from her after our dinner in Pattaya. There are differences, there are similarities-- both speak of childhood and both spoke to me. Both hugs were essentially from children, both hugs were pure and real. Both sought to be received honestly by me and were embraced with the faith that I could be trusted in an intimate moment. The differences were profound though.

You could feel Twee's story of heartbreak in that slight moment. Her one embrace reveled scars from each man who ever took advantage of her or let her down. It revealed every woman who scowled at her or cut her with words of hate. It revealed the want for hope and the need for simple love. Her ache was contagious, like a fire any sane person would want to smother out with more hugs and kind words.

The hug yesterday was much different in this sense. The little girl's arms shot out joy and excitement for life. It was almost as if she knew squeezing me so tight would indeed transfer the light from her body to mine. There was not just hope in that moment but contentment, knowledge of safety, dreams for future, and freedom. This girl is free to cry when she's sick and free to love who she wants to love. She's free to and encouraged to say no to evil.

I was struck with how easily these girls could have been in each other's place. I was struck with how I could have easily been in those places too. There are four hearts I feel through this. I feel the hearts in the two hugs, I feel my own, and I feel God's. God wants so much more for His daughters than what this world often provides. I'm convicted also to say that He wants more for my life than I allow.

I reclaim and receive my own childhood through these girls-- what could have been and what was. Still more, I live to reclaim the life God originally intended for me.

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