(I currently have Tina Turner stuck in my head, thus the reason for the blog post title)
- Number of cities visited: 5
- Number of lodging locations: 6
- Number of ministries contacted: 28
- Number of ministries met with: 10
- Number of hours spent on a bus: 77 (Chile is an extremely long country)
Instead of going to Peru with the rest of the squad, our team has been in Chile this month looking for new organizations for future World Race teams to partner with. It has been so fun. And so difficult.
My team is made up of 7 people. From completely different backgrounds, experiences, places, and even cultures, in some cases. 7 people put on a team, who are expected to love each other no matter the circumstances, lift each other up, call each other out when we’re being stupid and un-Christ like, pray for each other, challenge each other. 24/7 with the same people. Community at it’s finest….and it’s worst. If I’ve learned anything this month, it’s that loving others is exhausting. I’m starting to understand how my parents must have felt when I was being extremely unlikable and difficult to love, but they chose to love me anyways.
Loving others isn’t always fun.
When they’re being too loud, when they won’t stop smacking their food, when they won’t shut up, when they’re having a bad day and are moody, when they aren’t being loving, when you’re stressed out, tired, and tensions are high, when you just need space….choosing to love anyways. People always quote 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings or use it as a cute Instagram caption for a romantic picture taken at sunset with a slight breeze blowing while them and their boo aren’t actually looking at the camera because they’re too artsy for that. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not knocking on doing those things. I love taking pictures at sunset (and trying to be artsy). This month, however, I’ve started to look at those verses a little more deeply, because if I’m being honest, I suck at loving others.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Read those verses. Then go back and read them again. Then go back and chew on what it means and looks like to love like that. I feel like “love is patient and kind” etc. is overused. People quote it without actually understanding what it looks like to be speak kindly, to be patient when you don’t want to be, to be humble in all things, to not insist on having what you want, to not be irritable, and to call people out on their crap when they’re not reflecting Christ. Imagine what the world would look like if we actually took those verses to heart and started living that way.
I don’t think my team has nailed down loving each other well yet. I haven’t nailed down loving them well. And that’s ok. It’s a process, and I think all that matters is that we’re actually making progress. The cool thing about Christianity is that grace abounds. We’re not going to be perfect. There’s only one man who was and he settled our debt a long time ago. In the end, my team is a family filled with people just trying to love each other. We may be a messy family but we’re a family, nonetheless.
