Sometimes to go forward you have to go back to where you came from. I have to be honest with you all that I do not keep in touch with many of my high school friends. Maybe 2 or 3 I still talk to but that is it. The reason for this may or may not have had something to do with a boy, a break up and people taking sides. I chose to just not deal with the petty drama around those times and I moved on. Lately, Facebook and Myspace have had me evaluating those ‘friends’ as they often send friend requests. Sometimes I leave a friend request waiting for days or even weeks as I really try to decide if I am ready to let them into my virtual world.
Recently, the facebook world brought back into my life Marysol. Now, just to set the record straight, she missed a good portion of that drama and it was just distance and age (because in high school 2 years is like a decade) that separated us. She and her husband, DeWet, were the ones to lead the Cape to Cairo Challenge and currently reside in South Africa. However, they are in the states for a few weeks and I had the chance to squeeze in a lunch with her. I say squeeze because I know she wants to visit family and tons of people were pulling at her. I want to tell you that I learned new things about her while we sat for a little over an hour.
* Living in South Africa is not just a ‘job’ it is her home. She talks about it with possibilities and she has s park in her eye as she shares about how she would like to raise a family there.
* The people matter to her…and not just for a month to two. In fact, her exact words to me were ‘we want to work ourselves out of a job here’. She and her husband believe that their calling is to train the local people how to share the gospel and disciple other people.
*Humility emits from her as she shared with me how God continued to provide for them.
* Community is just as important there as it is here…maybe even more so. She tells me that while they have a vacuum it is rarely at their house. Instead it floats from one place to another so that everyone can use it. The same is true with a muffin tin. Imagine the relationships that are formed from that!
More importantly, I learned that it is ok to ‘go back’. Sometimes I get so caught up in the pain and let downs of life that I refuse to go back and see the joy and gifts that God has brought into my life. And it is just not high school but life in general. The baggage from life’s hurts and disappointments can weigh so heavy that I miss the great things that happened in those moments. The fact is, had that boy not come into my life and then been out of my life I would never had appreciated Heath and I would never have known who my true friends were. I would never have had to struggle with finding myself but I also would not be as confident as I am today. Sometimes you just have to ‘go back’ in order to realize that those moments are what took you forward.
What moments did you experience life’s hurts/pain and what did you gain ?
