don't forget to empty the pooh basket

Friday, December 29, 2006

Daily Life


Hi friends...Aileen here. I feel compelled to write to you with a few of my menial thoughts, in part to get over my fears of blogging. But also, this is for all of you who we were not able to talk to in person this holiday season. Mike and I miss you all and love you. Our thoughts are with you, although we are not. For me, with the holidays seemed to come a very perceptible loneliness. It was a time of new and very different experiences, and with that was a longing for the old familiar ones. But even withstanding the Christmas season, I have learned that this loneliness, a loneliness that I think we all have felt, comes not from being thousands of miles from family or in a culture different from my own, but because the daily mission in front of me has become more important than my time with the One who sent me. I see now that my daily life can not revolve around conquering my surroundings, however unfamiliar they are, but to go back to the One who does not change and who has put a divine order to my life, an order that is not dictated by what I can and cannot find at the market or if snow flies on December the 25th. He is with me and when I stop to give Him my attention rather than the Spanish words I hope to have in my vocabulary tomorrow, the loneliness disappears. It's amazing, and it works...it really works. This is an old habit of mine that some of my oldest friends might recognize, but I wish to leave you with a song. If you can find this song by Mercy Me (the song is called Crazy) and listen to it, I do recommend it. Or maybe there is a way to put it as a link on here, but, until then I will share with you a small portion:

"As I live this daily life
I trust You for everything.
I will only take a step
when I feel You leading me... Isn't that crazy.

I have not been called to the wisdom of this world
But to a God who's calling out to me.
And even though the world may think I'm losing touch with reality,
It would be crazy to choose this world over eternity."

6 Comments:

Blogger Star said...

Hey Aileen! Thanks for sharing your heart! You are so right...Keeping your eyes focused on HIM..changes everything! He will continue to be faithful to you! Hug that big guy you are married to!

7:36 AM

 
Blogger Emily said...

Ai,
Sure do like you a whole heckuva lot. Good to hear from you AND you look mighty fine next to that Bolivian Christmas tree.

4:12 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did you know that your mom (me) had that same habit of sharing a song? Most often it was to your dad when we were engaged and far apart or to friends in those secretive notes we passed. It's truely a celebration that we both have recently come out of a fog and emerged brighter than the snow you wished for on Christmas because we are now 1 step closer to God. Love Ya.

1:21 PM

 
Blogger Bryon and Sam Scharenberg said...

Y'all seem to be loving the Lord and each other... and learning a ton in the mix of it. That's encouraging. Much love from the northern part of the south.

6:35 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Aileen, Heather here... I know I never write or anything but I spy on you guys more or less regularly on this blog. :) I really feel for you being so far from home, and I know what it's like. This year I spent Christmas Eve in tears because my mom sent me a framed picture of my grandfather and it accidentally set off the waterworks! Anyway, we laugh about it now. I just wanted to send hugs your way from all your California relatives. :)

4:58 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aileen, I feel like we've been able to share a "coffee moment" right there. Thanks. I too feel many of the same things of which you spoke so frankly. I love you two! You are in my prayers :)

7:10 AM

 

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