I’m Back.
8 Pound Lighter. Body Full of Mosquito Bites. Clean Shaven Once Again.
The last two weeks have been spent TRAMPING (New
Zealand Term for hiking/camping) a popular route called the Hilary
Trail. (Named after Sir Edmund
Hilary)
During this trip
I had a lot of time to think, there
were a lot of tough times, we met
some random people and saw some breathtaking and beautiful things.
Let’s Start With a Few Reflections (With a few tantalizing pictures thrown in because
blogs without pics are boring!)
These past two weeks have contained some moments that I will
never forget.
Picture this: You have just hiked for almost two hours up and down through a valley on
a hot day (With 30 pounds strapped to your back) and you are dripping with
sweat. All you had for a breakfast was a cup of oatmeal with a few raisins and
now your lunch was a single tortilla with some peanut butter and honey.
You have shared a very small bag of
craisins with the rest of the team and as you leave to start the rest of a
tough hike, you spot a craisin that had fallen out and was buried in the dirt
and you exclaim, “Craisin!” and immediately grab it and throw it in your mouth
with much joy.
These were the situations we had these last two weeks.
rice that had fallen out, splitting the smallest things seven ways and some of
us eating things we would never eat — just because we were hungry.
They eat this little
of food every day
and work just as hard
or harder.
They value each grain
and deal with hunger
pains all the time.
They live day to day
and scrounge for each little bit.
And They Don’t Have an Out.
in a beach town called Piha.
And filled our days
with ice cream and meat pies.
And 6 days after that
we are eating
again.
When I live in such
meager circumstances it’s because I choose to be there.
And when I desire I can choose not be there.
how to reconcile the life I have
been given as a Westerner with
world.
How do I stay in contentment ‘whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or want’?
When because of my
status in life, I get to choose what I want
to be.
And how do I stay grateful for what I have been given
while not losing sight of the fact that my
calling is ‘to be generous and willing to share’ and to stay in close relationship with those in need?
I often feel torn between these two realties
And I struggle to find the Balance or an Answer.
