Packing List

I was thinking today about my return to Zambia and the things I want to bring with me this year.  Little things for Agness, our "old" sponsored child.  New clasps for the jewelry the women make.  Pencils and other fun products if I go see the orphan homes or go to a school.  Gifts for certain people and fiber bars...well, the fiber bars are for me:)  Though,  I was also thinking about what I don't want to bring with me...stress, hurry and worry.  I want to be a blessing in who I am, not in just what I bring to Zambia.

This will be a different trip for me as I am going it alone this year.  It will be a chance to reflect and be quiet in my traveling and arrive ready to minister to those people I come in contact with.  I heard a great quote the other day..."Speed and caring for people are incompatible".  In this society, we try and tell ourselves that being busy and rushing around is what we get medals for.  But those medals of hurry weigh us down so that we are not able to listen to God or act on the whispers we so often miss.  We are more worried about  "pushing on" with those things dangling around our necks and trying to get to the next event, or phone call, place or some sort of made up finish line in our heads. 

I cling to the many verses in the Bible that talk about being still.  Psalms 46:10-Be still and know that I am God.  Love that one.  Be still and then we know...As I desperately try to keep my schedule from hitting a level of lunacy, I try each day to spend time being quiet, hoping to take some deep breaths and claim the promises of God.  It is also so neat to notice that Jesus continually "went away" to be quiet and pray.  If He needed to, how much more do we?

That being said, we then ask,"How does it make a difference?".  It is in being before God that our priorities are always straightened out.  That we remember who He is and who we are and why we are here.  That the "interruptions" in our day, from our children, spouse, or neighbor are the chances to show we can slow down and be the blessing, the encourager, the shoulder to cry on to the people we come into contact with.  To listen to that still small voice that says maybe you can miss that meeting or class.  Or maybe on my trip I won't look at delays or missed flights or no shows for a ride or getting stuck in the bush as problems but a chance to be where I am supposed to be to minister to someone around me if I choose to be still and listen.

I can't wait to wake up in  the morning and be drawn outside to see the beginning of a day that though planned, is open for God's unexpected moments.  Pray I pack carefully....