I met a friend for breakfast yesterday morning in our usual spot – we don’t even need a menu. We ordered our usual coffee & fruit parfaits and caught up about life before she told me that she had some big news to share.
Turns out, she’s leaving for a year on a mission trip to Papua New Guinea. She’s a nurse, and will be serving alongside missionaries at a primitive clinic in the bush – accessible only by plane – and it’s a five mile hike to the grass airstrip from the clinic. She showed me pictures of giant spiders (THAT THEY EAT) and we tried to guess how much toothpaste she would need for a years supply.
My first thought was not worrying about the cannibals, or disgust over the spiders, or even how much I’d miss her for a year. No, my first thought was She’ll be different when she comes back. I know that for sure. She’ll come back wiser, kinder, closer to Jesus. She’ll come back with all the already good things about her intensified. She’ll come back with an awareness for human hurt, and a compassion for those who have little to give and many needs. I felt a pang of memory, remembering my own short term mission trips and how I saw the world with different eyes after those experiences.
It sounds so exciting to talk about, but I know it won’t be easy for her. Change is never easy. It requires something from us. Pondering her trip caused me to stop and think.
How will this next year change me? I’m not in the jungle bush balancing across a swinging bridge or hiking through the jungle, but my circumstances are new & have just as much potential to change who I am and intensify the good – or bad – qualities in me. Will I look at myself this time next year and find myself more flexible, industrious, kind, and tender-hearted? Will I be wiser or apathetic? Will my words be more tactful, or will I be quicker to get upset?
I’ve been in my new ‘jungle’ for a month now – today is my one month anniversary. 🙂 There’s been so many lessons to learn so far, and I know there will be more in months 2, 3, 4, etc. Each month, each day, each minute represents an opportunity for me to learn, to grow, to stretch myself. Today I’m grateful for the reminder to take advantage of each of those opportunities, so that a year from now I’ll look back and see the changes – for the better – in my own life. How will your ‘jungle’ change you?
xo,
Rachael
Wide Awake 