The work is always more complicated
the longer we find ourselves immersed in it. The relationship factor is
increasingly more important. Resting as we labor is more valuable and meaningful
than sporadic “retreats.”
And at the end of the day, all of
this converges in the truth that He is at the center of every story.
When we first began cross-cultural
work, we immediately began to undergo intensive and immersive training. We had
to start learning the language. We had to start piecing together cultural
habits and formalities. We had to address our own conceptions of what it means
to serve overseas. We had to engage new teammates. We had to deal with a radically
new environment.
As we continued to navigate these
things, the waves of cultural differences and ideas seemed to subside. Some of
this was due to our recognition of the value of relationships. Some of it was
due to being taught by others the meaning of resting amid the work.
Some of it was that we really had
been trained and taught and could now “safely” navigate our new context. We could
start thinking forward. We could start setting goals and planning how to reach
them.
Then one opportunity would fall
through, and another take its place. Then a person we thought we were beginning
to build a friendship with would disappear, and several new faces would enter onto the
scene. Then programs started to seem less important, and praying began to take
on more precedence.
All of a sudden it seemed to us that
we were not actually “doing” as much as we thought we were, and our prior goals
and ideas were not what we were necessarily seeing unfold in front of us. And
yet, we felt at peace; it was as if somehow, though we were not doing all the
wonderful things we initially planned to do, the things we ended up doing were
the very things we were meant to do.
It was as if everything was already being ordered before us, even as we stumbled ahead; it was as if
everything was being laid out perfectly alongside
our imperfections.
This is the cycle of thought we find
ourselves in as we serve; the truth is that the Father’s plans were at work
before we arrived, and are continually moving forward as we live here, and will
continue to move forward whenever we’ve gone.
This is how things always happen;
this is how they must happen, for He is the center of it. It is all by His own
design, and every design is valuable; this means that no matter how small or
dull of a task we have been given, it is impossible for it to be unimportant. The
tools of the altar in the tabernacle were just pieces of wood and metal. But because
they were made for something, and because He authored the something they were
made for, the word tells us that they were “holy.”
As we labor, the greatest joy and
comfort we have is in knowing that the Father’s plan is succeeding, because he
is at the very heart of it. There is no better place to labor; there is no
better place to rest.
-R
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