As for my “work” … it’s been an interesting month.
I’m still trying to sort through my thoughts and go over what all has happened here in Costa Rica.
But … I had an epiphany a couple of days ago.
This trip (and ultimately, the Lord) is showing me where my heart is.
You always hear people say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?
Well … I really think I had to
LEAVE in order to learn what is really important in my life.
I’m not one to get homesick very easily … I went away to college for 4 years, was gone every summer for my job at Pine Cove, etc.
But now … after only 2 months, I really do miss my family and everyone from home.
I miss my friends more than ever as well.
I’m really realizing how amazing it was to have built such good friendships and to have SO many people in my life who really knew me.
I believe that leaving has shown me just how valuable friends and family are in my life.
Finally … I think I had to leave to realize how much I really do appreciate my life in the US.
And I’m not talking about the physical comforts or the convenience or the ridiculously fast paced lifestyle.
It’s more than that.
For so long, I wanted to see life
outside of our culture and life
outside the states … to see the world and experience adventure and on and on.
I wasn’t content where I was.
I glamorized a life that wasn’t “ordinary” or “normal.”
But what I’m seeing
now is that the things that make life “ordinary” and “normal” … are the things that
really mean the most in life – friends, family, community, etc.
And I think that the more I learn about ministry, the more I learn that it’s simply about living a life of
love.
Of loving God and attempting to love those around you ….. and that can happen just about anywhere.
I’ve been asking the Lord a lot lately what my ministry is supposed to look like here.
I think I had this picture of me coming and changing the world in this one big
giant move.
But it turns out that I am really the one being worked on and changed.
And as a result, my new prayer has become, “Lord, what will my
love look like today?”
I’m still learning that it’s
just as important to make
just as big of a difference in the “everyday” and “normal” world as anywhere else (including the quote-unquote “mission field”).
And you’d be surprised … our days here are more ordinary than you’d think.
Grocery store runs, meals with friends, talking with the neighbors, hanging out at the church.
Everyday stuff.
Don’t be fooled like I was into thinking that you have to do huge stuff to make a difference.
I think when we believe that we’re not doing anything
big to make a difference, we are actually paralyzing ourselves into NOT doing anything at all.
Mother Teresa said that we are simply called to “
small things with great love.”
We make too big of a deal out of it sometimes.
So … that’s the lesson.
Value things of value.
Love people.
Keep it simple.
I think I can do that.
