I haven’t written a blog in a very long time. I haven’t journaled very much either. I HATE that. It’s like I’ve lost a big part of who I am. So I’m not going to put it off any longer. I’m reclaiming that part of me.
This one short blog will not even come close to all of the thoughts I have floating around in my head. I feel like my brain is on overdrive just trying to keep up with my life (that, however, is no one’s fault but my own).
What follows is my attempt to delineate just one of the fleeting thoughts that visited my mind today…
9 months and 8 days. No one in my life right now knows the significance of that number. That’s how long I have been in the States since my 11-month internship in South Africa.
So what did I learn over there?
Community.
That was always my answer. It stood out more than anything else. It was both the most unexpected and the most difficult lesson I learned.
In retrospect, I stand by my answer.
My heart really misses the community we had there. I miss having a roommate and a friend who I (finally) learned to earnestly trust. I could share anything with her. We prayed together and for each other often. We’d stay up late talking about dreams and ideas and nothing at all. We went to war with the bugs, spiders, ladybugs, and bats that always found their way into our room. We gazed open-mouthed and awestruck at an incredible lightning show and watched the fires that burned the distant hills on the horizon. We scaled mountains, played with penguins, and learned together. We relied on each other; and, more importantly, we helped each other rely on God. We spoke truth into each others’ lives even when it was difficult.
But it wasn’t just with her. The community there…it was beautiful. The way it is supposed to be. Thoroughly flawed, but overflowing with love. All 10 of us interns – we saw each other at our best and our worst. We really knew one another. And we still loved genuinely.
I learned so much from living in a community like that. I learned how to really love people…how to trust.
It was the most difficult part of the entire year. Hands down.
And I miss it.
