Life

So… I’m in West Africa right now.

Everything is different- the people and the smells, the plants and the animals, the spoken English dialect and the church worship, the temperature and the star constellations, the degree of security and the standard of material living, the money system and the items in the local market.

God is the same.

I feel different because different things are important here. Clean water is valuable here so I am mindful of how I use it. In Michigan I live next to the largest fresh water lake system in the entire world so I may use water as I please. Here, relationships are the most important and dictate how time is oriented and used. In Zeeland, raw efficiency and productivity is the compass for how time is to be allotted and measured for success, whatever success means. I am relatively new and unknown in this place. At home, my history is known and there are shared common cultural assumptions. I am contemplative of the differences, yet some things do not change.

I am still asking the same questions of what matters in life. How can I best love God and love people? (By doing purposeful small things with great love.) What am I going to purposefully do next with this in mind? (Location, employment or lack thereof, formal or informal education, living situation, involvement in local and global church, specific social causes… vocation) Who am I doing to do this with? (Friends and family, spouse or alone) What is it that brings me deep peace, fulfilment, and passion in life? (Living in the love and peace that God offers, connecting deeply with people and God, empowering people to be more fully alive, learning and growing, having fun)

I can fill in many of the blanks, but worry about others, and always want to do my best at it. I am also convinced that it is the journey, not necessarily the destination that matters the most. Besides, it is silly to worry about the future so much that I neglect the only thing that I can actually affect: the present. I should spend my time celebrating how green the grass is here and not off over on the next hill, because I can only affect the grass standing between my toes anyway. Now, I sometimes feel: ‘if only I could go and do ______ , then my deepest inner desires will feel fulfilled’ but it hasn’t delivered yet. (Sarcastically) maybe next time!! I know that this won’t deliver, no matter how wonderful life is or could become, because in the end it comes from the inside, from the heart.

I accept and love God dearly. I accept and love the amazing people that have been placed in my life. I know with my mind and believe with my heart that God and people love me dearly, but I don’t always accept this and live this way.

When I live this way from the heart, with God and people, then I am free to live moment by moment in the purposeful journey (not the destination) and then the specifics of filling in the blanks don’t matter so much, because again, it is not necessarily the what, but how it is accomplished.



This journal entry was one for me and was not really written for others. But I’ll post it up here anyway, with the hope that some of it resonates with a few people and can be an encouragement.