Lent: Day Thirty-One

When we held the dedication ceremony for our completed well at Campenaro Numero Dos in El Salvador, one of the things that stuck with me most was how everyone was dressed.

I realize that sounds funny...especially coming from a girl who can pack her entire wardrobe in one suitcase. I'm just not that into clothing or fashion.

What I liked about how people were dressed was the contrast: We Americans in jeans so dirty they could have stood on their own, and the Salvadorans in their nicest slacks and prettiest dresses.

Pink, blue, red, brown. Lacy, twirly, frilly. Clean faces and done-up hair.

This ceremony was special. This water well was important. Like a wedding or a nice dinner, it deserved a little extra spiffing.

I loved seeing that outward expression of the villager's gratitude. But even more, I loved that our team was so incredibly dirty. It was an image of how our willingness to obey God's command to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor (Isaiah 58) had paid off.

We had worked, we had sweated, we had been splattered in mud and grease for a beautiful outcome: clean, beautiful, shiny, fresh water for an entire village, water that would wash away their dirt outside, quench their thirst inside, and, hopefully, make them desire the Living Water of knowing Christ as their savior.