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.   It doesn’t happen overnight.   It happens after a lot of falls, bruises and possibly stit

        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, packed social calendars, busy work schedules-loa