Perspective is everything right? I've had this whole lesson of learning about perspective (again) rolling around in my brain. It has now become a giant snowball that needs to be thrown into words before it gets too heavy :-). So I will attempt to peck away at my phone in attempts to share my heart and snowball of emotions. Could get messy, I warned ya. And it'll be long. So grab a warm drink.
"Discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes." Marcel Proust
We can so easily paint in our head what life will be like. Or what the next event will turn out being. Or how good something will taste. How a friendship will be. What a picture taken will turn out like. Have you seen those pictures that are "Pinterest fails"? They CRACK. Me. Up. Because so often we can dream up some magnificent idea and it plops out on us. OOooorrr -- it can turn out perfect. Just as planned. I like those-- they give me warm fuzzies. Then there's also the "imperfect perfect" outcome. Which is where I often land. You know, where its a beautiful mess. Things don't end up like you expected, your perspective is shaken up like a snow globe -- but in the end ---Daddy God gives a new perspective that makes it even better than you could of imagined.
Last month we took the kids camping on this gorgeous lake. I went on a run and saw several dandelions. I hadn't seen any in a long time and thought how fun it'd be to pick them with the kids and take these stunning pictures of them blowing them with the lake in the background. It was a "Pinterest perfect" set up. But you know where this is going. It was not at all perfect. Elisha tried racing and competing with Claire and made her cry. Ezra fell in a hole and was bent out of shape. Claire blew most of the dandelions before we could get to the dock on the lake. Everyone was a little frazzled! However -- I did manage to snap a few. (Ignore the dirty fingernails)
Not at all perfect like I envisioned. But once I put the phone away, all was well. Of course it was :). It was a beautiful mess. We sat and watched the sky light up with color and enjoyed a lovely sunset.
I've had this idea in my head for quite awhile now that I wanted to touch the Eiffel tower. Like literally walk up and touch it and it'd be this glorious moment of pure bliss. After 10 years of praying, my mom is getting to fulfill her dream of visiting us in Kenya and loving on our Mattaw babies. My dad booked the tickets and discovered they could stop over in Paris on the way. So we planned that I would meet them there and travel into Kenya with them. And I would get to touch the tower ;-). Weeks in advance, I booked us tickets to the tower. I was ready. Did you know --- the Eiffel Tower is MASSIVE?!
I had no idea. But it was better than I expected. We had already been in Paris several days and every day was beautiful sunny weather. But of course, not the Eiffel tower day. Come rain or shine, we were going though. But upon arriving to the tower, I realized I wasn't just going
to walk up and touch it. Ha. Once we got up to the second floor, I found a place where I could actually touch the steel beams. Did I mention the clouds were dumping buckets of cold water on Paris that day? And the wind was a bit wild. I get cold so easy so my lips were purple and my fingers numb --- but I touched it.
And it was not at all a "Pinterest perfect" picture. My phone died right after this picture (another incident that appeared to be a fail) so when I charged my phone and turned it on that night, I couldn't help but laugh at myself for the terrified look I have on my face in a moment that I was really happy but outwardly I was FREEEEZING. But perspective is everything :-). We looked out over the city and I found beauty through the rain. I decided that my perspective is that the best way to see Paris from the Eiffel Tower was in the rain. Perspective y'all! Having new eyes to see is definitely a choice. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the lights come on in the city and there be a tad bit of fog settling in. We then went up to summit at the very top. And the tower is so tall that we were pretty much in a cloud. Ha! We couldn't see anything. Nothing. No whimsical city. Nothin. So we stood in another line, in the cold, and down we went back to the second balcony. We found a place to have warm drinks and laugh about our experience. We then had to wait in another line to leave the second balcony -- we were in the cold rain again -- and decided to pretend to be Mary Poppins with our umbrella and we spent time telling God all the things we were thankful for. Because a heart of thankfulness will sure change your perspective! But we gave people a good laugh (and made the grumpy people even grumpier, lol).
But through life experiences, I learn (again) about letting God give me new eyes to see thing. We can't change what happens to us, but we can lean into what God is teaching us and HE can give us a whole new perspective. A heavenly one. Now --- if I had my preachy pants on -- I could get deep with that spiritual lesson. But I'll save that for a rainy day. Ha. That's not today though :).
Where I'm trying to get to and end this post is about my friend and such a dear partner in missions, Daka.
My eyes become watery and nose burning as I look back at the last couple of years and think of the journey I've had with Daka.
Sometimes you have this perspective. Her and I both did. That we'd be walking together in the same country for life. No doubt, we always kept the future open to whatever God wanted. And no doubt, we have a friendship for life. But our sweet Father is changing the path for this next season. OH MY heart, how hard it is. But we know -- to our core -- it's right. And it's what the Lord has. Rebecca will be headed back stateside in January to go back to nursing. She loves children with a fierce kind of love that has no limits. We are thankful for how she loved big and well as part of Mattaw. I know she will bless and love many more children stateside too. There's a field to harvest in America too so I guess you can have her America ;-). The season here was God ordained and a HUGE help to oversee the sprout babies we have and to help prepare for the Sprout babies we will have in future. And I just decided my snowball of emotions are now puddles from my eyes so I can't see to type well. I'll close with some pictures, sweet memories.
Just know this Daka, you are so loved. You're in the hearts of your Mattaw family forever. You'll always be auntie Rebecca to my wazungu children. You will always have a place in Kenya to call home. And Maria will always have a chapter in her life where you were "her person" --- aka Daka --- aka mama.
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