by Elizabeth | Jan 30, 2012 | Learning Story
Putting the final touches on an upcoming workshop on community — what is it and why do we do it — here are two great quotes — the first from Jesus, the second from Mother Theresa. I challenge us all — let’s not just read them — let’s look at the faces of three people we come across – at least two strangers, and think about what it truly means to incarnate the love God created us to receive and give.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23
“People today are hungry for love, for understanding love, which is…the only answer to loneliness and great poverty. That is why we are able to go to countries like England and America and Australia, where there is no hunger for bread. But there people are suffering from terrible loneliness, terrible despair, terrible hatred, feeling unwanted, feeling helpless, feeling hopeless. They have forgotten how to smile, they have forgotten the beauty of the human touch. They are forgetting what is human love. They need someone who will understand and respect them.”
Mother Theresa
by Elizabeth | Jan 24, 2012 | Learning Story
Cool quote from Virginia Woolf…from my favorite site: www.thesaurus.com
“It would be a thousand pities if women wrote like men, or lived like men, or looked like men, for if two sexes are quite inadequate, considering the vastness and variety of the world, how should we manage with one only? Ought not education to bring out and fortify the differences rather than the similarities? For we have too much likeness as it is, and if an explorer should come back and bring word of other sexes looking through the branches of other trees at other skies, nothing would be of greater service to humanity; and we should have the immense pleasure into the bargain of watching Professor X rush for his measuring-rods to prove himself “superior.”” Virginia Woolf
Read more – http://w.po.st/share/entry/redir?publisherKey=Dictionary&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquotes.dictionary.com%2FIt_would_be_a_thousand_pities_if_women&title=%20It_would_be_a_thousand_pities_if_women&sharer=copypaste
by Elizabeth | Jan 23, 2012 | Learning Story
"The day came..."
“The day came when the risk of remaining in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’” John 4: 28-29.
Yesterday I ventured into the relatively new-to-me, very exciting, but often intimidating practice of visual journaling, a technique of using visual media to let your mind and heart wander. I’m eager to tell you that I feel terribly incompetent at it, and it feels risky to share the pages that came, but since doing so seems to be the action of living this story, here goes…
I opened my journal to a page in progress, which I had begun by pasting a driveway discovery: a shell/bud/pod from our crepe myrtle trees that had “flowered” in the most exotic manner. [Yes, I recognize none of this is correct botanically:)].
Flipping through some books to get ideas for what to do next, I saw the old quote, familiar from greeting cards (probably to the author, Anais Nin’s, great chagrin), and debated whether or not to use it, because it seemed a little clichéd. But I have my own story of when the “day came,” when a dear friend sent me these encouraging words, so I decided it should go in.
As I worked, though, my mind and heart ran to the story of the Samaritan woman, who likely never forgot the day when she was invited out of the shame of her sin to live in the love she was made for. Hers is a stunning story of “the day came….” Jesus asked her to fetch water for him, and the day came. Jesus told her to call her husband, and the day came. Jesus told her he was the Messiah, and the day came.
The risk of remaining in the bud was apparently no more an option even, and she ran back to the townspeople who had helped hold her in her tightly-closed hard shell and told them about a man who “told her everything she ever did.” The woman drank from the well of Living Water (sorry to mix the metaphors but not really sorry because Paul did it all the time☺). Bursting forth into bloom, with Jesus as the fixing center, her lovely colors spread into full glory, bounding from the page.
So then I had to make a sunflower, my personal symbol of hope, bursting off the page, with Christ at the center.
The day to be freed by the compelling love of our Lord Jesus Christ has come. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, his mercies are new. May we rejoice and burst forth with this great good news!
by Elizabeth | Jan 18, 2012 | Learning Story
I wrote this entry several years ago, but given new grief, both in my life and in others’ dear to me, it seemed like a good day to run it again:
Yesterday, given a 36 hour retreat at a friend’s sanctuary by the sea, I headed out to the beach early to capture the beauty before clouds overtook the sun and grayed the day. I had brought my camera in case I saw any beautiful cloud formations, one of my favorite photographic subjects. I took a picture of the cloud before I saw the sign.
It wasn’t a well-formed rainbow, and I’m afraid some scientist might explain to me exactly what I saw there in terms of the reflection of the sun’s rays and water blah blah blah…But it was a rainbow, if only a fragment of one, and it spoke to me of God’s mercy and grace in time of need.
It has been several weeks of significant losses, both in my own life, and in lives of people very close to me. Strange, sudden, sorrowful deaths have shattered stories of people I love or of friends of people I love. Especially for these loved ones, it is a season of wandering and wondering, as my eldest son put it yesterday, “Is there a point to all of this? Does what I’m doing matter?” I told him, “There are seasons when it looks like death, disease, darkness, and disaster have won. But don’t believe it. Soon, very soon, you will see again that redemption has won. New life is growing, even where we can’t see it. God’s mercy is working, even when we don’t feel it.”
In the midst of these musings, I saw the bow in the cloud. God tells Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.” (Genesis 9:9-16).
God’s covenant with Noah was not the final covenant though. Christ fulfilled the promise that God would fully redeem and restore the broken world. Whether you see the rainbow or not, it is true! Christ has won the victory over sin and death; the promise is fulfilled, and there are signs pointing to the one day when God shall wipe away all tears, remove all mourning, heal all disease, and death will be no more!
by Elizabeth | Jan 16, 2012 | Learning Story
Abbey resting after a run on the beach (which was supposed to be a "photo shoot"
“Consecutives” – short for “consecutive kisses,” a series of “kisses” that may to the untrained eye appear to be licks given to either of my two daughters by our “giant Yorkie” Abbey.
Sadly, after a bout with kidney disease so short we barely knew it was here before it took her, our dog Abbey passed away sometime Saturday night. When we first acquired her, she kept me up at night way more than any of my four babies did. She barked in a loud, body-shaking tone when guests came to the door and didn’t stop for a while after they had entered (unless we put her in her crate). She demanded attention, and any time her “older sister,” our big lab Maddie, seemed to be getting more than she, she barked and jumped to make sure we could not ignore her.
And yet, she was the dog who whined and rolled on the floor in delight when you came home after a long day away; she kept me company in my study in the early mornings and raised one sleepy eye when I asked her if a certain sentence made sense to her. My children, in varying degrees, loved her, and my husband was just plain goofy-cute with her, pulling her into his lap every evening after dinner and letting her “kiss” (lick remaining food off his face)?
So yesterday was the first day of loss. And though that little Abbey-piece of my heart had broken, God showered me with “consecutive” kisses, small uncoincidental occurrences, that reminded me that he is with always.
1. The timing. I wasn’t home. The hard decisions and the final hours were left to be stewarded by the best person to do it, my dear doctor husband. Even though I picture her little soft body (as yes, it had become over the past several weeks), I can’t bear the thought of holding it, as he did, in her final hours.
2. The words I needed to hear. This morning, after my husband called me to tell me she was gone, I opened my computer to read Matthew. But the Bible was already open to a passage I was studying the day before – Revelation 21. As it always is, it was good to read the reminder of the day of shalom finally restored, the day of no more tears is coming – and SOON.
3. Friends and family who understand were nearby. Just yesterday I visited with the friends who inspired us to get a Yorkie. When this couple first visited us at our house, they brought their cute little (8 lb.) lap dog, who sat obediently in my friend’s lap the whole time we were there. This woman’s deep compassion for furry friends is known far and wide. In addition to getting to talk with her, God also provided family. Our elder son and his girlfriend were here with me. Her family Yorkie had just passed away last year. Talk about being surrounded by people who know what this day is like!
4. Scripture again: We visited my ‘home’ church in this city. When the service began, guess what the Scripture passage was? (Yes, see above).
5. Soul-stirring songs, among them…
“How Firm a Foundation” – with this stanza opening my eyes to God’s kindness to all who suffer sorrow.
“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
Dear friends who stood just a few rows ahead have for the last several months been watching a close family member waste slowly toward death. God did not design us for death. And yet, he offers consecutive kisses of hope, reminding us that one day he will restore all things and those who know him will be with him forever.
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
by Elizabeth | Jan 13, 2012 | Learning Story
Two of the precious children M.E. met in Haiti
Yesterday, if you somehow missed it, was the two-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. In the morning I was with two women whose hearts have been captured by Haiti’s story. Our younger daughter, 18, went to Haiti over Christmas break and sent a letter to her supporters yesterday. It really swept me up into the people, the country, the struggles, the hope. I know some of you have been to this beleaguered, beloved country. I haven’t yet. Mary Elizabeth’s description will touch something in your heart either way. With her permission, I share it with you.
Many of you have asked about my mission trip, and I’ve told you that I’ve been trying to type out an email but I don’t even know where to begin. For a few weeks after, I couldn’t even think about my trip without breaking down. Haiti has made a huuuuge impact on my life and it’s just so so hard to try to relay what happened in Haiti when I know that honestly, one just needs to experience it themselves to understand how much it truly changed my heart. That being said, I still love sharing about my experience and growth. I can see this email being pretty long, but please don’t feel like you need to read it all or at all! I’ll just do a quick (but not so quick) recap of the days!
Saturday
We arrived in Port Au Prince and drove about 30 minutes to Titanyen, where Mission of Hope is located. When driving through PAP, we saw the epitome of the destruction from the earthquake. Some people had even taken their Samaritan’s Purse tarps and used them as a floor, blanket and rain cover.
Sunday
We toured the Mission of Hope (MOH) main campus which holds guest housing, staff housing, fields and courts, cafeterias, an orphanage, a medical clinic, a prosthetics lab, a school, 3 Cords, and tons of roaming goats. We ended up at the church which is also on campus and were able to worship with the Haitians. I have to say, my first Creole service was extremely enlightening. I have never seen anyone worship so beautifully.. When I think back on this service, I think of this pregnant woman in the front row wearing a pink dress, lying prostrate on the floor, crying. It was a perfect image of what surrendering our all to Christ looks like. We sang in English while they sang in Creole (broken French) and there was no way you couldn’t feel God’s presence. After church, we visited the other 2 MOH campuses. MOH500 is the campus where they are building 500 homes, mostly for victims of the earthquake. On this campus, they’ll also have a school, soccer field, church, and clean water wells. The other campus will be another orphanage, school (k-12 and 3 trade schools), and what I think is the coolest part, an old folks home. Older people tend to be more neglected, so MOH is trying to care for them. That night we went and ate at Gwo Papa Poul, also known as Big Daddy Chicken.. awesome name, right? After this, we went back and star-gazed on the roof which ended up being an every night occurrence because it was soo clear and just an amazing view outside. I definitely miss this. (If you want to see a visual of these campuses/what MOH is doing, here’s a 3 minute video that’s pretty cool! http://vimeo.com/30163926)
Monday
First, we went to the market and pretty much that was the most stressful/hilarious situation of my life. You wouldn’t believe how many people touched my skin or yelled, “moun blan!!” (white people!!) as we walked passed, which of course would gather a crowd. Never felt so much like a celebrity in my life.. I’ve also never had the urge to become a vegetarian until I saw the meat market….. After lunch, we went to the village in Messi and had 2 different things to do there. Our first thing was evangelizing. We would kinda start out asking how their day is or something but I’ll never forget what Patrick, our translator, said this day. He said, “I’m not translating this- get to the point.” At first we thought it was a little harsh, but I realized how right he was. We often try to beat around the bush, but we just need to get to the point. We’re running out of time to share the gospel, and we need to take every opportunity we have. Many people would say they’re a Christian, but then tell us they didn’t know who Jesus is. It was so crazy to me. Patrick told us that about 80% of Haiti is Christian and about 55% is Voodoo- They overlap. For example, when God can’t heal an injury, they’ll go to a witch doctor.The other thing we did in the village was shine shoes, which, by the way, never ask me to shine your shoes because I will ruin them. Apparently, I’m better at talking than shining. I got to know the guys who regularly walk around this village shining shoes and they have this misconception that all white people can rap. Apparently, they thought I was supposed to be just as talented as Lecrae, which was one the guys’ favorites. Yeah, umm I proved them wrong.. That night, Jay and Diana Cherry (Americans) told us their story that would take a whole other hour to type out, but I’d love to share it with you at some point!
Tuesday
Tuesday we started off by visiting a ministry that’s on campus called 3 Cords. Some of you may have seen me wearing different braided headbands- this is 3 Cords. It started off after the earthquake thanks to Diana Cherry. She worked as a translator for the relief workers who worked in the prosthetics lab. She was able to talk to Haitians every day and came to the quick realization that these amputees thought they may as well be dead. With a missing body part, they’d never find work and they’d be a disgrace to their families. This is when Diana employed a few Haitian women and had someone teach them to sew and found fabric donators. These few women grew into 12 women over the years and they work Monday-Friday making headbands, bags, pouches, and hair clips. Diana is currently working on getting to the point of selling them in stores and making a website. I’ll keep you updated on that but for now, you can check out their blog http://www.3cordshaiti.blogspot.com/.
We also went to MOH500 and painted some of the homes that they are building there. By the way, painting cement is extremely difficult so if you’re ever thinking of building your house with cement, think again. People who had already moved into their houses would come in and try to help us to “repay” us for helping build and paint. Nothing is free in Haiti. This reminded me of Ephesians 2:8-9 that says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one can boast.” We cannot try to repay God for the salvation He has blessed us with. This was gifted to us, as these houses were gifted to them. One man came in and just said, “I love you” over and over and over again. It was really cool that of all the English words you could learn, these were the 3 he had bothered to learn. After all this, we came back to the campus and built a rock wall. Shoe shining isn’t really my forte, and apparently rock wall building isn’t either. The Haitian workers ended up taking ours down and rebuilding it… At least I know what not to count on for a career, right?
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we started out by visiting orphanages and acting out the Christmas story. Let me just say that all those years of holding my hands in the air, wearing a sheet over my body and a gold piece of fabric around my head payed off. Yes, once again, I was the angel. I encourage you to look at how awkward all those pictures turned out.. Then, we went to the beach which was beautiful. We sat looking out on the water, but surrounding the water were mountains beyond mountains (see what I did there?) and it was just a permanent Kodak moment. We came back in the late afternoon and played with the children at the orphanage. One of the kids I took a particular liking to there was named Pierre. His legs were completely limp from malnutrition so the Mission got him a wheelchair. He had just been brought to MOH a few days before we arrived. I’ll tell you a tidbit of his story, which was completely heart-breaking. About a month ago, Pierre watched his sister, who was probably under the age of 10, get shot in their village. Pierre is only 3 or 4 and saw everything. You could tell he was still confused and shocked at the catastrophe. His mother looked for a place to take care of him because she wanted him to be safe, which is where MOH came in. He’s eating more and his body is getting a lot healthier now which is great!
Mary Elizabeth really does have practice being an angel! (She's thinking of changing her major to 'angel performance')
Thursday
Thursday morning I was able to go down to the on-campus market and see a friend I had met on church at Sunday and had tried to see a few times throughout the week. Her name is Sarah and she is about 10 years old. 2 years ago, she lived in the village with her family and after the earthquake, her aunt and uncle took her to MOH to work with them. Her family did agree to it, because they knew that this would bring in income for their family. Sarah goes to visit her family occasionally, and this is the reason she was soo excited about Christmas. Sarah makes money by making Haiti bracelets. Just like all the other kids, when she saw us, she came running and wanted to play or dance or sing or give us corn rows (not a good look for me). When I think about her, I always smile because I know she’s so thankful for what she has and she’s just such a great sport. After I said my goodbyes to Sarah, I left for the airport- my last ride in the canter.
Returning was way harder than going there. I’ve told some of you this, but sitting in the Miami airport was not the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. I would sit there and watch people doing seemingly pointless things and just wonder how materialism consumed our lives; more importantly, how I’ve allowed it to consume my life. It was hard for me to watch this, especially as my flight kept delaying which had already made me a little emotional mess..
ANYWAY, that’s pretty much the story. Except not all of it. I could literally go on for hours.
Nan Bondye,
In Him,
Mary Elizabeth 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 http://www.mohhaiti.org/
