“Celebrate the small victories,” one of
the other missionaries told me, “because it will be a while before you see the
big ones."
Like finding a bus (one I’d never taken
before) that was going where I wanted to go, without someone I know
specifically telling me, “I’ve taken bus x
from point a to point b.”
Feeling familiar enough with the
neighborhood to try a new way home – knowing that even if it didn’t take me
where I thought it would, I wouldn’t be lost.
Noticing a subtle change in how the
girls and ladies at church greet me.
Small things, yes.
I shouldn’t forget, but I probably
would if I didn’t write them down.
It’s
March and I’m still shamelessly listening to Christmas music. I’ve lost all sense of the seasons. :) Yup, Joy
to the World, pumpkin goodies and iced tea all at once. That can do weird things to your mind. Or maybe French is doing weird things to my
mind.
Anyway, about the Christmas music…it’s
not just for December.
I don’t mean Frosty and silver bells
and sleigh rides. I mean peace. Joy. Emmanuel. How God came down, lived among us, is
still with us.
It’s a truth I need every. single. day.
We’ve picked up our pace with the Bible
stories – in the last two weeks we’ve gone through Esther, Job, Daniel, Jonah,
and now we’re in the New Testament.
Matthew 14. If you’ve been around here much at all, you
know I love that chapter (especially the last part). Have you ever wondered about the twelve
baskets of leftovers? I mean, it was miraculous
enough that 5000+ people were fed with five loaves and two fish. But what was the point in so much
surplus? Honestly, I don’t have a real
answer to that. But I do think that,
perhaps, God wanted to remind them – and us – that He is not a stingy God. He’s an abundant God. Dazzlingly
abundant.
The disciples had their stomachs filled
along with everyone else; they’d seen with their own eyes how nothing could
faze Jesus. How He could be relied
on. Trusted.
And yet the next part of the chapter is
an almost pitiful account of fear and lack of faith on the part of the
disciples.
After we listen to the chapters in
class, Marie-Claude retells the story in her own words. She got to the part where Peter is out on the
water. “The wind was strong,” and I
thought she’d follow that with, “so Peter started sinking.” But the instead she continued, “So Peter was
afraid. Then he started sinking.” That made me stop to think. After all, it wasn’t really the wind that
caused him to sink, was it?
I sense an application there…
But it’s so much easier to blame things
on circumstances, isn’t it.
We sink because the waves are too
high. Because circumstances are too
rough. Because situations are overwhelming.
And yet it really all comes back to
trust.
He is the Mighty One. He is the Hero. Nothing will undo Him.
To wrap up, here are a few good links:
