Dishes clang as children play "market" outside. My son sings "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba". The blue curtain in our bedroom blows back and forth fueled by the dusty Saharan wind. A mother drums on a dented metal bowl while her children dance. Well-dressed men come back from their Friday prayer time at the mosque.Testosterone-filled boys run hard after a soccer ball outside. The cows come home. I just tried on a pair of jeans and a cotton blouse just to remind myself that there is another side of me.
I look at my desk. The things I see are a broken baby monitor, $50 of cash (in local currency), “Avalon” by Stephen Lawhead (Ben’s latest read), a classical guitar CD, a key ring, a few pens, a drawing of a train by Lilias and well-loved pumice stone.
Everyday life. Sometimes, it’s so simple. Simplicity is something I love about life in Africa. The average child here has fewer toys than I could count on one hand. The average family has even fewer books. There are few meetings, parties, after-school programs, gyms, magazines, computers, iphones, shops or sports teams. Of course, I often miss these things. But most of the time, I appreciate the simplicity.
The last few years in Africa I feel for the first time that I have found the balance of work and rest in my life. In the West, I struggle hard to not be tired all the time, stressed and part of the rat race. There is always something else to do. Part of having children is also a form of constant demand of course, but without all the demands of the west on top of that, I feel I can live more thoughtfully.
I am on a journey. A few months ago, a friend gave me “A Thousand Gifts”, by Ann Voscamp. It didn’t take me long after I started it to feel it was my story - a book I could have written. It’s a book that tells Ann’s journey to become a thankful person. I could sum my own journey these last two years up in much the same way. The battle to be grateful….to choose joy and thankfulness.
Someone said to me, “Your blog makes everything sound so beautiful”. It’s not that I only write the things that are easy or pleasant – it’s that God is changing me from the inside out and letting me catch more glimpses of His beauty in everything – from oil on water, to the way a baby takes comfort at his mother’s breast. There is so much beauty in everything – so much of Him in it all. I want to see it.
You may have noticed that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to write 3 things I am thankful for each day. This has come out of my own journey of realizing my own tendency to complain or grumble when things don’t go my way. Instead, I want to be thankful and trusting towards God. The circumstances in my story are different from Ann’s – and yet, the journey is much the same.
I will write more about this as the year rolls on (or the years roll on!), but for now here are 21 things I am thankful for from this past week:
1. Green peppers
2. My son’s toothless grin
3. The Bible
4. Warm bread
5. Early morning cuddles
6. Mosquito nets
7. The way lizards get serious after lunch
8. Notes and calls from home
9. Early morning light
10. Waking up next to Ben
11. Green spinach from Ben’s garden
12. Hard days that make the good ones good
13. Chinese rice
14. Uno in 4 languages
15. Shiny skin
16. Quiet moments
17. Children jumping
18. Surprises
19. Full moons
20. Trees blowing in the wind
21. Ant poison
What are you thankful for? …..To be continued next time!
