Of Cheese, Cheese, and Cheese

If you know me very well, you know how much I love cheese.  Most of my favorite foods include cheese.  Our kitchen at home is almost never cheese-less.  I could happily eat it just about every day, I think, and not get tired of it.  (I happen to be related to someone who does NOT like cheese at all, which is almost inconceivable.  I guess maybe I got double the “love cheese” genes and he got none.  Yeah, that’s probably what happened.  But I digress…)

So when I got here and found out that my favorite kinds – the kinds I was familiar with – were nowhere to be found (with the exception of mozzarella)…

* * *

I knew missions would involve sacrifice.  In fact, following Christ involves sacrifice, period.  But I want to choose which sacrifices I’ll make.  You know, give up the things that don’t hurt as much.

I can live without a TV and a library right down the street.  I don’t mind not having 25 flavors of ice cream available at the grocery store, or a Starbucks on every corner (but if you mention pumpkin spice lattes, I’ll probably be tempted to tell you to shut up).  It doesn’t bother me to do without a microwave or a dishwasher.

But I miss cheese and poppies and all things Fall-related.  I don’t think it’s fair that I don’t get to watch my nephews and niece grow up.  I don’t want to be thousands of miles away from my family.  I want the water to stay on so I can have real showers and the power to stay on so I can use the fans.  I want a garden and a cockroach-less kitchen and a mild California climate.  And did I mention I’d like some cheese?

In light of eternity, none of these things will matter.  (In fact, I suspect that if I could really get my mind around eternity, I wouldn’t even call them “sacrifices”.)  But they do matter to this earth-bound heart of mine.

So let me remember who I am.  I am a child of God, redeemed at a staggering price, forever part of His family, because He gave up His own Son while I was still an enemy.  I am destined for heaven – this world is not my home.  I am infinitely loved by a God who knows me through and through.

And one of the ways He shows that love is by giving me what I need instead of lesser things.