by Krista Hahne
Reluctantly abandoning my books in a heap on the bed where I had been studying for my Sunday school lesson, I turned to my computer. I still had to translate a recipe in time for my baking afternoon with some girls from the church. Leaving Zahariah, Elisabeth and the angel Gabriel behind, I plunged into wrestling with weighty matters like finding the best Romanian word for “topping”. At noon, both lesson and translation still unfinished I ran downstairs to have a bite with Tim before getting back to work. I thought I still had two hours before the girls showed up. But lunch had no sooner hit the plates than we thought we heard a muffled knock at the door.
“It can’t be!” I thought. “Not yet!” Peeking out the peep-hole I saw just one of the girls, but she was two hours early. Opening the door to the sound of her explanations of uncooperative bus schedules and sick friends, I felt my plans for the next two hours evaporating like water dancing on a sizzling skillet. But seeing her eager face, I surrendered to ministry mode. And after a somewhat awkward start dealing with missing ingredients and the unfinished recipe, God gave us a great time baking together and talking about all kinds of things—from why she had skipped school that day to not having a dress to the freshman ball to the complete sparcity of young men who love Jesus in our area. It was great to see her share her life with me.
But that’s when the revelation came as to how she views my life. Skillfully loosening freshly baked zucchini chocolate muffins from their tins, she looked up at me and spoke what was on her mind: “Don’t you get bored?” “Bored?” I asked, nonplussed. Thinking of my amazing and challenging missionary life, and how I never have time to do everything I want to do, I went on, “How could I be bored?” She shrugged, shook her head a little and persisted, “Well, what do you DO all day?”
Hey, don’t be sad! It might be partly my fault that this girl thinks I do nothing all day, because normally I instantly make myself available to the girls and change my own plans, no matter how early or late they show up. I still need to work it out in my mind whether this is always good for them though.
Also, since a lot of what I do all day is spiritual, intellectual or creative work it doesn’t really compute to a extremely pragmatic girl who is all “let’s get it done and get on with the next task.”
It’s funny though, just saw this same girl Tuesday and she and her friends REALLY opened up to me. One confessed a struggle and we prayed together. Another had a question about God’s will for marriage. We were able to get in the Word together and pray together and it was such a sweet time. In that light, how much does it matter if they don’t “get” my life?
This makes me so sad… If only they knew the sacrifice…
@Amy 🙂
@ Gaby, well, no great pearls of wisdom. I was too stunned! God any suggestions for next time?
So what DID you tell her?
I completely get this. And I’m as confused as you are. It’s amazing that we don’t have beautiful nails every single day. Sigh.