I’ve got commitment issues.
In conversations these last few days, I’ve been realizing that my approach to relationships with my teammates has been a passive/reactive one. Relationships have never been my strong suit. (Let’s be honest, I’m just really bad at human interaction… at least, really awkward at times.) Let alone being a committed friend for the long haul. For some reason, the thought of walking with people through all the messiness of life makes me shrink back. A lot of the hesitation comes as I think about possible scenarios and outcomes – what if I don’t know what to do or say? What if I get rejected? What if it means that I lose all my freedom and independence?
At Caminul Felix, I find myself surrounded by families who have committed themselves for life – to be parents to the orphaned and abandoned. To love them through diaper changes, the terrible twos, crazy teenage years, identity crises, graduations and weddings, pregnancies, and everything else that life has to offer. Once placed into their families as their child, these parents are committed to loving these children as their own for the rest of their lives.
As an entire community, these parents continue to care for their children into their adulthood. Since housing is a major expense here in Romania (even more so than in the U.S.), Caminul Felix has several projects that provide their children with more affordable housing options as they become more independent.
We’ve gotten to help with one of them! Some of the land by the farm has been set aside so that the grown children who are married and starting their own families can afford to have their own home. Since most of the labor is done through sweat equity and volunteers like us, all that the young couples have to pay for is the material cost. (There is no interest on the loan that they are given for the house.)
This month has been filled with God’s grace – time for our team to start afresh, time to connect and to bond with each other as we shovel dirt and break bread together. Most of all, time to find redemption as I learn to love and to walk alongside people as God intended for these next 9 months, if not a lifetime.
