Yesterday we went to a leper colony. All I can say is that I've never seen anything like it in my life.
People without fingers.
People without toes.
People without eyes.
The colony was set up in four long rows of rooms the size of walk-in-closets. Each room was inhabited by a leper, lying on a mat, naked and limbless. I was caught off-guard several times because I've never seen anything so destitute in my life. I was driven to tears. The people looked like they were in cages, locked away from the rest of the world like animals. But there was something odd, a little off-center, that I saw as well.
Each person we greeted was smiling... smiling contagiously.
The Christians living in the colony welcomed us with a shout of, "Praise the Lord." They were filled with such joy, even though a silent killer was eating away at their livelihood. "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."
The sound resonated deeply within my soul.
To top that off, the leper who was giving us the tour sang a worship song and prayed for
us before we left. He was clapping his hands -- well, what was left of his hands -- and singing a beautiful Indian melody to God. A single tear stripped down my cheek as I realized that I'm so ungrateful.
I went to the leper colony praying that I wouldn't catch the disease, which isn't even contagious. Instead, I caught a sickness called joy.
Authentic joy. Contagious joy.
The most pathetic part is that a leper had to remind me to smile....
I feel like I have leprosy of the heart sometimes.
Do you feel like you have leprosy of the heart? What things prevent you from experiencing joy, and what can you do to change that?
Comments (10)
Powerful post - what a great reminder to us all.
Many things prevent me from experiencing joy - my own humanity often gets in the way. Prayer helps, generally. Good friends can help too - when we have deep conversations about God and his love for us, etc. And, also, reminders such as your visit to the leprosy colony - going places that remind us how thankful we really should be.
Beautiful. Thanks for Sharing.
Feasting upon the scriptures, talking with Heavenly Father (and not just to Him), and regular, heart-felt service to others keeps me from the leprosy you are talking about. And if I forget those things, the Lord always has a way (not always subtle) to remind me to return to Him.
Spending time in silent contemplation of life, and light. Spending time singing, or walking in my garden. Today, I picked mangoes. What a miracle! From a tree that looked bare just a few weeks ago, springs this beautiful fruit that blesses with it's sweetness.
Joy comes to me in realizing that creation brings sweet things out of apparent nothingness.
Your post also brought me joy, in the reminder that destitution need only be a surface condition because joy finds its place in the heart.
yea, after reading this I feel like I have Leprosy of the heart. The things that prevent me from experiencing joy: when I compare myself to my peers, and/or when I realize I am not living as Christian a lifestyle as I could/should/ought to be living. I know I need to live apathetically to this world, but it is not very easy to do. I think what I can do to get real joy back into my life is to read Scripture more and more and engage in as many acts of penance as I can.
@myfanwe@xanga - i love what you had to say as well. refreshes my outlook and appreciation for the small things God gave us,
Hmmm...I doubt you have leprosy of the heart. What you lacked were "eyes with which to see". But when you saw, you recognized what you'd been blind to. God desired to open your eyes, and so He opened them. If you had not had a willing heart, your eyes would never have been opened. You'd have seen nothing but wretched ugly piles of worthless flesh, had your heart been leprous. The world around them is the world which does not have eyes to see.
Now don't allow anyone to put blinders back over your eyes.
Thanks so much for this wonderful post.
Praise God indeed!
Lonnie
This was a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing it.
oh my God there are many times in our life when we have leprosy of the heart ,( death of a love one, divorcre, broken heart,etc).Yet we stil should give thanks.
This is beautiful and so are you. We will go to India together one day :)