Finding those “¡Qué rico!” moments and not growing weary

Monkeys chillin' in the rain

            Today is one of those days that you wish you could be omniscient and feel the full beauty of every single sensation to the very fullest. It is so perfect that you just can’t express it or even feel it all at once. Today is like the way my friend, Anna, describes the perfect adorableness of a plump happy little child… You just can’t get it all; you can’t absorb it all. You just want to eat them because they are so cute. Now, I don’t want to eat anyone, but I do just want to experience this day to the very fullest extent I can. I am sitting on the couch at my apartment right now wearing a pair of long pants. Pants! That’s because the heat isn’t suffocating today. There is a fresh cool breeze and a light mist coming in through the windows. It finally rained!! The jungle is rustling with water droplets sliding and splashing down the palm fronds and the monkeys skittering out of hiding. It’s just so perfectly exhilarating that you never want it to end.

RRRICO....So much rain, so much happy!!

Río Coco waterfall

The Hondurans, or really Spanish speakers in general, have a luscious word to articulate this feeling: rico. The dictionary really doesn’t do this word justice; “rico” is defined as rich, in the sense of monetarily rich or richly delicious. Spanish speakers, however, give this word life, and Hondurans know how to feel it. Deeply. Abundantly. Completely. Picture this… you are at Río Coco, your skin all sticky with sweat and roasting in the sun. Then you take the leap off the rocky cliff into the madly swirling waterfall below, and a delicious icy chill races up your back as you hit the water. ¡Qué rico! Or you’re swaying in a hammock on a Sunday afternoon, Ninoska’s freshly chilled tres leches cake in hand, while a stray breeze dances across your face… Qué rrrico. Or you’re leaning against the countertops in the kitchen with Anna and Annie, sipping yet another frigid banana peanut-butter smoothie and laughing at the latest ridiculous drama. ¡Qué RICO! (It’s strange how “icy cold” has been a particularly significant factor in all of these examples…).

“Rico” really just describes experiencing something absolutely delightful to the fullest that it can be perceptibly experienced. It is tangible happiness. For me, “rico” summarizes a large portion of Honduran life (at least in the parts of Honduras I’ve seen). Life is so physically experienced here. For most Hondurans, work isn’t an 8-5 job behind a desk. If you are blessed to find a job, it is often physically exhausting and demanding from sunrise to sunset, and the pay is insufficient. A disproportional percentage of the typical Honduran’s earnings is spent on food (around 40% of income is spent on food, whereas in the US we spend an average 6.8% according to a study by Washington State University), so food is intensely valued and enjoyed. The Hondurans I know would never “accidentally skip lunch” or “grab a quick sandwich” like an American worker might. Instead they ask what’s for lunch in the early morning already, and women spend hours every day making their tortillas perfectly round and thick and their frijoles just immaculately seasoned and “machucados”. Also, Hondurans also don’t have many toys for their babies; they use hugs, kisses, and tickles to play. Even in their free time, being close to family and friends even just to eat or sit quietly in a hammock is considered the best possible use of time. Qué rico… Qué rico it is to drink an icy coca-cola, qué rico it is to swim in a clear river, qué rico it is to hold a giggly chubby baby, qué rico it is to receive a kiss, qué rico are these beautiful little moments in life!

Yet, there is of course so much poverty, sickness, and social insecurity in this area that cannot be ignored, so I want to highlight the beauty of Hondurans’ lives here without trivializing their suffering. There is a deep appreciation among the Hondurans for these seemingly small physical blessings and a contentment with the beautiful moments they experience in life, and I can’t help but admire it and try to learn from it. Living here, I’ve grown to appreciate every little blessing, each moment of “tangible happiness”. Even when some days are really tough, especially for the Hondurans, God gives us beautiful moments where we can say “¡Qué rico!”, and we wish we could experience them perfectly.

No matter how “rico” the experience or how perfect the moment though, there is always that tiny undeniable presence of an insatiable desire for more, the need to experience that perfection even more fully. Here on earth I don’t think we can ever reach that complete impeccable happiness. We always long for more. Even while I am oh-so-happily drinking my banana-peanut butter smoothie (quite literally an everyday staple to my diet here), I feel a twinge of sadness that it will soon be gone. Even that feeling of pure elation that comes from watching a child make progress after months of therapeutic intervention is dampened by the realization that this is just a handful of children; there is always another million youth in Honduras, or Central America or the world, who desperately need help and won’t get it. It’s self-defeating. It feels hopeless. What am I doing here if this doesn’t really make a difference in the grand scheme of things? The joy in seeing progress is there, but it feels so fleeting.

Paul, however, reminded me of something in his letter to the Galatians. He writes, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). He can say this because God has promised that he has a plan for this world, and that everything eventually will serve to the fulfillment of that plan and for the good of his people (Jer. 29, Rom. 8). That doesn’t mean that we can sit back lazily and do nothing just because “God has a plan, so he doesn’t need me” or that everything in life will be perfect for people who follow God. That was never part of the deal. God still requires much from us, because “to whom much [is] given, of him much will be required”. He expects us to use the means he has given us. To whom much is given (e.g. 1st world wealth and the knowledge that there is suffering around us) much will be required (e.g. serving others in his name as he has told us to do). So we give as much as we are able, not “fainting” or giving up, knowing that we will reap the results in God’s time.

You can never get enough of this silly little guy!

            With that said, what we do out of love to serve God and others does make a difference in the grand scheme of things. When we work and love in his name, we are doing what he has required of us. With his grace we play the part that he has set out before us in his plan, however insignificant it may seem to us at the time. Then the results will come, and all those hours of work and stress will be worth it. Keep serving! Don’t grow weary! And through it all, let’s be thankful for every “Qué rico” moment and live them all to the fullest we are able.