Thoughts After World Travel
In case you missed our other two posts, our family has just returned from a trip to the other side of the world! When your oldest daughter has lived there for a year and plans to live there for one more, you do all you can to go see her! (Thanks to those of you who helped make that happen for us!) Our time was quick but well worth it!
While we recover from the jet lag (and sickness that hit most of us!), I’ve been processing all our experiences. New places, new cultures, new perspectives. So much to wade through and contemplate and soak up.
Obviously the West is drastically different in culture than the rest of the world. I’ve experienced other foreign places as well and I’d say we have made good advancements in a lot of ways, but I think we’ve definitely lost something valuable as well.
As we strolled the small mountain village with its narrow streets paved in patchy concrete and lined with rubble and grass-broom swept dirt, we observed people sitting. They’d talk with people who’d come meandering by, they’d observe the random animals (or foreigners) who also meandered by regularly, but they’re biggest job of the day seemed to be to just sort of be there.
We saw school buses come to pick up children at appointed places, taxis honking their way through the village, scooties finding their space on the road among the meandering and driving. Even with all this, there was no real hustle and bustle. Ladies were throwing their freshly cleaned laundry over the rail of their home’s porch to dry in the morning sun. Men rolled up the storage doors to their shops below their homes. Everyone had a little something to do, but from my American point of view, they lacked drive and the need for purposeful work. They were quite content to exist and be.
Didn’t they have the need to pursue something? Didn’t they feel driven to accomplish something of value or fix the things broken all around them? Didn’t they feel bored with being? That these questions surfaced so immediately when we were in this culture sort of rattled me. What does this reveal about me? Why do I feel these haunting feelings daily to perform and produce and accomplish when I’m back at home? The revelation explains a little more my deep struggle to simply be with my God as I’ve shared here before so many times. I believe our greatest work truly is that of being, dwelling, sitting, and existing with our God; if I’m honest, I find great difficulty in finding contentment there. I always question if that’s enough, if that’s what is enough for Him, if I’m squandering the life He’s given me by “just doing that.” Of course, when I experience those times with Him, He so deeply fills and satisfies me it sounds foolish to even admit the struggle. Alas, my humanity sickens me once again.
While our trip was jam packed with so much goodness, my favorite parts were the times we spent in the smaller village, meeting people and seeing what everydayness sort of looks like for them. I certainly did enjoy the slower pace, less pressure, and deep breaths that came with simply being. Surrounded with such magnificent beauty certainly never hurts.
I’m so grateful for this chance to see my kid, to see another part of the world, and for the work God graciously still continues in me. He really is everywhere we go! I could see Him reflected in the faces of those we met, in their hospitality and kindness, in the glory of His creation that looks different than what I see in my daily life. I leave you with two things in this post - finding contentment in Christ is a worthy endeavor; family is everything! May we meander, stroll, be driven to both.
