exposed.

recently i found out that several younger friends of mine have been sexually active.  it has been a weird few weeks in how to approach them about the issue and who should be included in that discussion.

for those that didn’t know i just spend two weeks  in ethiopia.  the second day i was there, we drove by a girl/woman lying on the side of the street naked.  this is what i recorded in my journal that night:

“we passed a girl on the side of the road today, in the midst of the dirt & gravel.  crowds past her. cars parked around her.  she lay on her back with one arm over her fore head, the other by her side. her knees up in the air slightly spread.  i did not know her age.  she had no shoes.  in fact, all she wore was a beige shirt that just barely covered past her breasts.  my first thought, ashamed to say, was ‘hey there’s a naked girl, alright.’  as we passed my heart saddened.  here was this beautiful child of go, perfectly made, lying on the street covered in dust and fully exposed for all to see.  i’m not sure if there is a problem with prostitution etc in ethiopia.  but i wondered what it was that brought her to this point and place?  did she even care?  did she not have clothes?  was she aching for attention?  was she hopping someone would notice?  was she trying to sell sex?  did she even care that she was naked?  what was the case?  what did people think as they passed?  was this culturally acceptable?  did they look at her in disgust?  did they look at her at all?  what did she feel?  did she feel shame?  how does she see herself?  is s he happy?  does she hate who she is?  i wish i knew.  embrace her lord.  show her you care.  show her your love, show her she matters, show her she is a child of you.  show her she is someone.”

what is it about this girl and about my friends situations.  i think it is our desire to be loved.  our desire to be desired by someone.  our hearts are made that way.  it is our nature to want to be loved.

i was reminded of where paul writes in ephesians 3, “and may you have the power to understand, as all god’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  may you experience the love of christ, though it is too greet to understand fully.  then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from god.”

i confess that i struggle with this same desire of wanting to be loved.  as a single 26 year old, i want a wife who will love me no matter what.  but even then that love will never fully satisfy me.  the same with these friends of mine and the ethiopian woman.  only the love of god will ever fully satisfy our desire to be loved.  it was he who created the desire in us and it is he that can fulfill it.

~ by kareydigh on March 2, 2008.