NPH

 

This summer I went to a wonderful community called Nuestronos Pequenos Hermanos or NPH.  The name is Spanish for My Little Brothers and Sisters.  The Ranch, as it is called by the people who live there, is a community where children who have lost their parents can come and find education, shelter, faith, family and food.  To call this place an orphanage is a profound disservice to this amazing community.  Every day I shared a meal with the Casa Suyapa – Baby House.  This is one of the community that becomes the family to each one of the kids.  Shareing a meal with the kids gave me a new perspective on food.  Each day these children share three simple meals where nothing is wasted.  There is no picking or choosing and no finicky eaters.  What they serve is what you get.  The food is received with joy and eagerness. There are a lot of beans and a lot of rice and a lot of simple corn torias that are made at the ranch.  The children eat outside most days sitting in a circle.  They eat everything on their plate and wait in silence to see if they will be chosen for seconds.  The children are grateful for every bite they get.  The perspective change was that food was for giving life not life itself.  We have all heard the say eat to live don’t live to eat.  But at the ranch that concept was incarnate.  It was amazing how much I enjoyed food that was so simple.  Food I would have never choosen back home.  But the combination of community, perspective and hunger made every meal a feast.  It seems even when we eat healthy all too often we are still obsesed with food.  Getting the right healthy food that still satifies our obsession.  If it is tru anything can become an idol, food is one of the biggest for those who have an abundance bordering on excess. The Apostle Paul seems to give warning about where this can lead. ^“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Phil 3:19-21 Watching the children of Casa Suyapa enjoy such simple food as they enjoyed the community around them made me aware of how often I make my comforts the center of my thoughts and my attentions.