Well, here I am, home from the other side of the world, feeling like it is a different world altogether. I am still trying to take it all in, trying to process all of the beauty and all of the pain I saw and participated in. I am praying and sorting and hoping for ways to incorporate all of these feelings, these lessons before me, into everyday life. For my lens – my eyes and my vision, is forever changed.
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Still, the two worlds are so vastly separate, in some ways it seems easier to keep them that way. Being a person who prefers black and white, the clarity of that would be most comfortable.
Even as that thought occurs to me, I know it will not be the path I choose.
I think back to a recent sermon I heard at church. Though it was applied differently, it is relevant to so many things. He was speaking specifically about how the world is neither all bad nor all good, so we, especially as Christians, need to “live in the tension” between the two.
I know that tension is where I will choose to be. I cannot live in one world or in the other, but in the disparity, and even in the similarities, between the two of them. Though not the same comfort as black and white, thinking of it this way provides me with a degree of clarity I can live with. It gives me a framework within which to sort my thoughts and feelings, my convictions and emotions, and a way to function in everyday life as I learn to incorporate the lovely wounds, the heart scars inflicted by the beauty and the pain of that other world within this world, learning to be fully dependent on One who created, cares about, and lives in both.
Romans 2:1-2 (The Message Bible) “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
3 comments:
When we returned from Uganda, our familly had a tough time processing as well. I loved your perspective, allowing God to use us, in our everyday lives, bringing the best out in us!
Good word,
Shelby
You have a wonderful perspective to give us all Tiffany. I think we always need to remember that we are blessed beyond measure. That the Lord gives us so much, and when we can, to share whatever we can. I look forward to hearing about this more when I see you. Much love to you.
Beautifully written, my dear. Let your message come forth!
May God grant us growth in spite of the growing pains.
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