Two weeks down already. Although the weeks have seemed to drag on, I know that the next few months are going to be gone before I know it. If I were able to remember to update the blog more regularly I would be able to remember what's actually happened so far, lol. I do remember that one of our fifth graders scared Emily during class with an 10 inch remote-controlled tarantula and that we rode to the hogar in a taxi one night where we made friends with the Honduran taxi driver who used to be a bouncer in Portland, Oregon. Haha.
Its one of the strangest things going through the daily grind here, knowing that it'll be over in a few months. The feeling of day to day life is not too different than it was in college as far as there always being work to do and its a constant circle of get up, go to school, get home, have a little free time, eat, get ready for classes the next day, sleep, and repeat. But somehow, knowing that it will be over soon gives me a different perspective. A perspective of truly needing to make everyday count for something, as cliche as that sounds. My mind doesn't just get lost in the day and I can't go several days without thinking about the big picture of the next several months like I could during college. And when my mind wanders to thinking about the big picture, it inevitably wanders to the time pressing in on me to do what I came here to do: make connections, share the gospel, serve the students. I've rarely felt this incapable of doing a task set in front of me.
Every week, I'm learning more, however. More about how to live, how to be faithful, how to treat people, how to balance the things that life has thrown at me. This week the lesson has been about having a Mary heart and Martha hands. Coming from Luke 10:38-42, the tasks put in front of me are nothing important compared to making time to sit at the feet of my savior. But the work put before me needs to be done, just not before or in place of spending the time to refresh my spirit and focus my mind in the Word and with prayer. I found this story the other day that made it simple and clear for me:
There were two loggers setting out for a day of work. To make the day interesting they decided to have a competition to see who could cut down the most trees before sundown. The first logger set to work and decided to not rest until he absolutely needed to. After only an hour, he looked over and saw the second logger resting against a tree. His confidence grew as he continued on. He chopped until he couldn't chop anymore and then would let himself rest for a spell, but every time he looked at the second logger, he was resting again. At the end of the day, they compared work and the first logger was astounded to find out that the second logger had cut down almost twice as many trees as he had! Noticing the surprise on the first logger's face, the second said, "I may have rested more throughout the day then you did, but what you didn't notice is that every time I sat down to rest, I was sharpening my axe."
This is a lesson that I wish I had learned much earlier, like freshman year of college. It would've been helpful then to realize that there is a huge difference between resting when you are already exhausted and just want to stop working and resting strategically to prepare yourself for the next step. Maybe before I get home I can get the hang of this. I know it would be really helpful for medical school :-)
