"I dipped my spoon into the
large bowl of vanilla pudding on my tray. As I lifted it to my mouth, I noticed
that many students in the cafeteria appeared to be staring at me. Too late, my
mouth closed around the spoon, and instantly my brain registered the vinegar
taste of mayonnaise not the sweet dessert I had anticipated. The students broke
out laughing."
When I reflect on our
feelings of adapting to life in Central Asia, my husband's freshman college cafeteria
experience of accidentally eating mayonnaise is somewhat of an accurate word
picture of our experience. What we looked forward to in sweet
anticipation had often been a bitter reality.
One friend said it particularly
well when he said all aspects of life here are abrasive. The terrain, the
weather, the culture as a whole, and daily living is abrasive. It is very easy
to focus on the negatives and stressors of our lives in this corner of Central
Asia.
We learned that in the local
culture, it is considerably honorable to have a lot to complain about it. This
“spirit of complaining” impacts a lot of us foreigners as well, robbing us of
joy and a godly perspective. Instead, we need to be daily putting on the helmet
of salvation (Eph. 6) and disciplining our minds to have the mind of Christ.
When you consider yourself and your teammates, do
you see them flourishing or are there subtle signs of disease of the soul, like
complaining, spiritual dryness, or compassion fatigue?
Psalm 104:16 says, "The trees of the Lord are
watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds
build their nests, the stork has her home in the fir trees."
Let's take a minute to consider Cedar trees:
- Cedar trees are the most cold-hardy species of cedar.
- They prefer well-drained, fertile soil, but tolerate infertile, dry, or alkaline soil.
- They are slow-growing (less than 1 ft per year). These trees can grow as high as 50-80 feet and spread their branches at the base as much as 20-30 feet in diamter.
- They live a long time.
- Their shade provides relief from the hot sun.
- Cedar trees have a pleasant smell which comes from the natural oils which only develop in mature trees. This natural oil is toxic to insects and fungus. When wood dust falls from the tree, it carries the natural oil which repels poisonous snakes.
- Cedar trees do not bear cones until the 40-50 year mark, but then produce cones in abundance.
- Cedar tree wood serves many important purposes for humans, and are also beautiful to enjoy.
How about you? Ministry to others comes out of the kind of
people we are. Are we a safe refuge for others? What spiritual "fruit" are visibly evident in our lives?
Our prayer for front line workers is that you will be strengthened to comprehend the internal reality of God's
heart through the eyes and ears of your heart and that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19, my paraphrase).
....We don't
pray this lightly, as often the most direct route to having God's heart is
through pain and death-to-self. But the narrow path which leads to becoming His
image is a path of being, not of doing.
His image in us comes out of the
internal reality of the type of person we are.
Let us be a living
demonstration of the Good News to expats and nationals (John 13:35) because the people in Central Asia who are dying by the millions without
hope.
