On Saturday we had an amazing opportunity to help with a carnival that the Swazi team orchestrated in the rural area of Timbutini.  They had invited the kids from the care point and Erin's students from school, but there ended up being almost 200 kids there!  We had games and food and a blowup bouncing thing for the kids to jump in.
    With all of the children running around, sometimes the day got a little overwhelming, but I was really reminded of serving and loving other people. The kids were so happy to just be around us even though they had never met many of us!  It was a beautiful day and God really blessed us with enough of everything and the energy to truly pour into the kids.  It was wonderful to see our groups come together and make these kids feel loved and special, at least for a couple of hours.  To be able to see the smiles on their faces was worth everything and more put into the day, even the exhaustion that set in after everything was over.
    At church on Sunday we talked about selflessness and Saturday reminded me of how it feels so good to give yourself away.  The day was not about us, but about a group of children who need to know that God loves them and that they are special. Selflessness is hard, but it is the way that Jesus called us to live.  He has not called us to give simply one Saturday in order to serve children, but the lifestyle of selflessness is to be one that is lived out daily.
    I read a book entitled Blue Like Jazz and the author tells a story of his roommate who always emptied the dishwasher, and the author asked him one day why he did it.  The roommate's reply?  "If we are not willing to wake up and die to ourselves daily, you have to ask yourself if you are really following Jesus."  
    How profound and yet simple…Jesus explains this in the Gospels time and time again.  "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).  Selflessness is Jesus' way to finding your true self and realizing who Jesus has called you to be.  
    It is hard, and something that I am continually learning, but in order to be more like Him I must keep laying down myself and instead first think about others.