Going bananas!

A stalker has been following us persistently over the last few weeks.

I’m referring to a dog! We named her Hudi, which means bananas in Tetum. Hudi has a brother, whom we call Kulu, after the breadfruit. These are two of our most favourite fried snacks to eat in the morning!

Technically, Hudi belongs to our landlord but she has grown so close to us that she literally follows us everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.

She pounces on me excitedly when I go buy breakfast in the morning (dirtying my clothes with her muddy prints in the process!) 

She jumps over the low wall surrounding our house and dashes ahead of us when we go to work at the library.

She even followed us into the restaurant for lunch one afternoon and refused to go away no matter how we shooed at her. That was the first and last time we ate there with her. Now, we have to pack lunch to eat at home just so she would not enter the restaurant and possibly annoy the boss or other customers! Amazing as it sounds, our daily routine has to be altered because of an over-affectionate dog!

I’m not sure why Hudi has suddenly become so very affectionate, to the extent that she doesn’t let us out of her sight! But we do worry about her safety when she runs ahead of us happily as we walk to work, while cars and motorbikes swerve to avoid her. Every now and then, she would turn back to make sure we are behind her, probably wondering why we are walking so slowly! When she does make it to the library safely, she would follow us around for a while, before settling down in a quiet corner for a long afternoon nap. Even our students have grown accustomed to the sight of a dog snoozing in the library! 

Hudi has become a living demonstration of love and loyalty. She simply wants to be near us, wherever we go. Often, I look at her sleeping so peacefully and think of how my Father in Heaven longs for me to draw near to Him and experience deep rest and security from simply being near Him.

The longer I live here, the more I appreciate that sometimes, the gift of our physical presence is the best thing we can give to others. Often, the poor and hurting don’t need our high-tech gadgets, our skills training per se, even our well-meaning words of counsel. All those things are good, but devoid of a sincere willingness to simply be wholly present for the other, they become dead works. Sometimes, in simply sitting with someone with love in our hearts, God’s presence is ushered in and the process of healing begins to unfold.

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. Be wholly present for someone today. It isn’t always easy, but in doing that, God is also changing our divided hearts and helping us to truly rest in Him.