Well first of all the house is tomb quiet! That is the first thing wrong with this day. All three of my teenagers who generally are screaming, yelling, laughing, running up and down the stairs, banging the doors as they go in and out, complaining that one of the others is getting more internet/computer time than they are, asking when are we going to eat (even though we just had a meal 93 minutes earlier), talking on the phone to their friends; the house is often a beehive of activity as their friends come over sleep over eat over and mess over. But it is quieter than a cemetery here now because the kids all left this morning for Black Forest Academy. Spring break has finished and they are all gone. It's the absolutely worst part of being a missionary.
The second thing that is all wrong is that I spent 6 hours sitting in Peugeot Service today trying to get the mission car repaired. Made all the worse by the realization when I finally got home that they had not even repaired one of the main things I had taken the car into the shop for in the first place. These kinds of things were par for the course in Russia, but this should not be in Macedonia. Macedonia should be much more civilized . . . it is much closer to the West! Thankfully I learned long ago to take work with me to such places, so at least the day was not a total wash.
Of course my attitude about the car and the kids going back to BFA is what is most wrong. Let's face it, I am not much like Jesus. My attitude sucks and my heart is breaking and my patience is totally absent. There is more work to do than any 10 people could do with excellence and the pressure never goes away. I often think I need one year of solitude for every six months living in this hairy armpit of God's green universe. But of course, I never have solitude because we Westerners value busyness and activity rather than peace, stillness and solitude . . . and let's face it, the CMA would fire us all if we think we can get paid for a contemplative lifestyle. That's Dr. D's Diagnosis for today.
2 comments:
I'm an MK and greatly value that experience but I never had to board. And even if I did, I couldn't begin to understand what that would have been like for my parents. Except that now I have kids, I'm not sure I could do it at all. It sounds waaaaay to easy and trite to say "Thank you for your sacrifice" But I don't know what else to say.
OK, I thought of one thing to say. After about 38 yrs of missionary service, my folks retired. One of their earliest Japanese co-laborers had opportunity to visit the States, and my parents took him to visit my grandmother. This Japanese pastor got literally on his knees on the floor in front of my grandmother and thanked her for allowing her son to leave her to live in Japan all those years.
If that doesn't happen to you (and your kids) on earth, it certainly will in Heaven. And I know you know that. It probably doesn't ease today's pain but I thought I would share it anyhow. I do have a sympathetic knot in my stomach just thinking about it.
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