Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'

       They say hard work always pays off in the end. Well I don't need it to be "payed off". The work I'm doing here is my pay. And if my work is "money", then thus far I have a lot. Today I raked an entire volleyball court of stiff mud. I lifted more than twice my weight in sand and rocks over and over again. I picked out every last blade of grass in a rather large area and every piece was worth the pull. I worked incredibly hard. My hands have calluses and blisters and I have attained so many cuts, bruises, and scrapes that you would think I never stopped working in my life. But that's okay because to me, they are just battle wounds.

      My battle is to get through all the pain, the heavy lifts, the dehydration and the times I feel so weak that I could faint. But I push through those battles to win the war. When the war is won, (the war being my trip), I know it will be incredibly rewarding because I will have brought even the slightest bit of joy to these wonderful orphaned children who have the biggest hearts, and smiles, ever. Their compassion is something that I not only respect, but that I love. They are the payoff, they are the key to winning to war, they also are the key for renewing my negative thoughts, and the key to opening my heart. All I need to realize this was a little time a lot of love, which is exactly what I got from these gorgeous kids.