Love is the Mission

Today is quiet, unusually quiet.   The last few weeks have been filled with fittings, appointments,   weddings, fundraisers, launches of new ministries and lots of people.   I am an introvert so it’s all been a bit stressful.   To many people cause me to want to shut down.   I should be cherishing a quiet day yet my heart is unsettled.   God has always come through for our family and for Village to Village.   Always.   Yet I can not get away from fear.   Fundraising is hard, speaking is hard, planning is time consuming yet the mission is always the same.   Love.   Why do I fear Love?   Because I am not releasing it to God.   Parts of it I am, parts of it are easy to give to Him but when it comes to financial things at times I think I know what is best.   I want the answer now.   I want the growth now.   But growth does not come immediately.   It’s like a child learning to walk. ...

        Reading is one of the ways to settle my spirit.   I love learning from others.   One of my favorite books is Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner, her view of the burdens we carry is this: It only takes one visit to a third world country to understand how far I’ve gone off course. It takes only one glimpse of the happy sparkle in the eyes of a chocolate woman laughing as she dyes fabric with calloused hands to know I do not understand joy. It takes only one visit to a roomful of sex trafficking survivors singing, dancing as they chop avocados for guacamole to know I do not understand gratitude. It takes only one peek at a child’s singular toy, a helicopter made from a trashed cell phone minutes card and a lollipop stick, to know I do not understand creativity. We are clothed.   We are fed. We are sheltered. We are stressed? We are weary.   We have burdened ourselves with an inordinate amount of possessions, pack...