Love and Some Verses

This week has been a bit harder for me. I can’t pinpoint an exact reason, but I have had a general feeling of melancholy. I think that it is a combination of being sick at the beginning of the week, still feeling a bit unsure of myself in my work environment, and missing family and friends back home. I thought I wouldn’t have feelings of homesickness or culture shock this time because I have been here before and I’m thirty so should be mature enough to handle things, but I’m learning that age has nothing to do with it and experience only takes you so far. There is still the reality that I am completely dependant on other people to take me to the grocery store, work, and on any social outing. I am still in a work environment that is completely new to me in terms of nursing, but has the added complications of language and culture barriers. All of this is making me feel very insecure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still enjoying myself and have been blessed beyond measure by the people here, but I want to be honest in these blogs and being so far from home and people that truly know me is difficult. I think one of the biggest difficulties is cultural and many times it is only later that you realize there was a cultural exchange that was uncomfortable. An example was that I was recently at the store and I was trying to find something. I walked up to a employee who was shelving items and asked where the item was. She seemed taken aback that I was asking her and somewhat quickly dismissed me. I took this as her being rude and unhelpful, but my American friend Johanna who has lived here about 7 years pulled me aside and explained that you always greet someone first. I should have said hello and how are you or spoken to her a bit before asking her where the item was. Apparently, I had been quite rude to simply ask her where something was without these formalities. I’ve also learned recently that it is very rude to not place your knife and fork together on your plate when you are finished eating. I have probably come across very rudely in many homes and I only learned about this custom this week and have eaten with many people. Despite my insecurities, I am enjoying myself also. I saw the Broadway show Beauty and the Beast last night to celebrate my friend’s birthday. It was a fantastic show and Gaston in particular was fabulous.

The church here is currently diving into 7 weeks of love. This means that the sermons, worship, prayer time and everything is focusing on love and what love actually is. How amazing it would be if we could actually grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18) For if we truly grasped this, we would love freely without any need for approval or gain. It would be a selfless love. We have the ability to love this way because Christ first loved us in this way, but it takes courage and vulnerability to experience and give this type of love. And mostly it requires an intimate relationship with the God who created us because He is love and is the only one that can show us what true love is. I have to admit that this is a challenge for me, but I imagine what this world would be if we truly knew the certainty of God’s love. Imagine what people would do if we didn’t hold back or worry what others thought or lived from a place of hurt or insecurity. The amount of love and friendship and hope and integrity and selfless giving would be overwhelming.

Ephesians 3:17-19 “And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love surpasses knowledge and you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”.
This is my prayer for you.