It’s a rare opportunity when you get to see the familiar with fresh eyes.
Last month we made the transition from Africa to northern Europe and found out that reverse culture shock really does exist. Latvia was more similar to the States than any other place we had been on the race, and for a while it was great. Everything seemed so new and exciting even though they were the “normal” things that we were used to. But like most new things, as time went on the newness wore off. I had already thought quite a bit about what going home and going back to the familiar would be like, and I knew that the excitement would eventually wear off. What I didn’t know was that the familiar was going to come two months early or how quickly the excitement of it would fade.
I’ll be honest, the first nine months of the race were difficult and I struggled in a lot of different ways. There were times that I wanted nothing more than to get away and to go back to where things were comfortable and familiar. But I pressed on and God gave me joy in the process. And then finally after nine months, God granted my wish.
Or so I thought.
The excitement faded very quickly and I began to realize that all of the comforts of the place we were now in were empty and distracting. What’s more is that we could see the kind of atmosphere that all of those comforts can generate and the effects it can have on your spirit. The amount of affluence that we are surrounded by makes it easy for us to focus and depend on things, activities and events and close ourselves off from one another and from God. The pace of life that we commonly see makes us overactive and restless and often breeds impatience. This is what I experienced coming to Latvia. I began closing off from the people around me, which was one of the biggest ways I have grown in previous months. There was also a sense of restlessness growing inside of me that not only kept me from falling asleep at night, but it also made it difficult to be still in God’s presence for even 5 minutes.
Seeing the familiar through fresh eyes has taught me so much. It has also made coming back to the familiar more difficult than I would have thought. In many ways it has made me miss the time that I spent in Asia and Africa, despite all of the difficulties. However, I know that God wants me right where I am and that he has lessons for me to learn and things for me to do. And despite the new difficulties, God has taught me so much from my time in Latvia.
Every place and culture produces some sort of atmosphere, and some are heavier and more challenging than others. But no matter where we are in the world Christ is with us, and tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world.
