Refuel

Lately my weeks in Haiti have turned into blurs. It seems like I just sit down at my desk on a Monday morning and the clock is nearing noon on the last day of our school week. My off hours disappear no less slowly. I’m thankful for the opportunities that I have to get off the mission grounds and spend with friends, gatherings at the Church of Hope, as well as the evenings with my next door neighbours, but it sure makes the time fly. Umm... Is it already the 8th of November? I thought for sure it was only the 6th. Woy. It won’t be long and I’ll have to start thinking mid-term report cards!

Well, all this to say that this afternoon I decided that I was overdue for a siesta. A couple hours to do nothing but recharge.

It started with ‘Haitian food’ leftovers straight from the fridge... Contrary to Rachel’s shudder, it's my perfect cool down method. :)

Then I put my feet up and read ‘The Kite Runner' until my eyelids got heavy.

My favourite songs played softly over the hum of a fan as I journalled.

Jean Marc came over and blessed me with some acoustic worship practice.

And then I heard the soft whisper of rain out my window which beckoned me to take a walk down the hill in the cool mist.

Now I'm snacking on german pancake extras from next door.

Indeed, a refreshing day.

Tomorrow begins another week. I know without a doubt as I open the squeaky screen door leading into the classroom, the clock will hit double time and I’ll lurch into high speed mode before have time to blink. This lazy afternoon will surely be a thing of the past as I proctor math quizzes, teach what a diamond is, review the difference between a census and a sample, and practice re-grouping numbers, and that's just the beginning. The hours will blend to days, the days to a week, and before I know what has happened, I’ll be back on my couch next Sunday like a deja vu moment.

Today was a reflect and recharge kind of day. As I went about my afternoon, I got thinking about how easy it is to fall into the routine life I'm in, like all of us busy bodies are in. There is a trap set for us... To lose the bigger picture. Satan would just love to catch us up in a scheme of complacency. Where we lose the passion and simply carry out the day to day tasks without any emotion or heart. It’s a tricky thing to notice when the time is flying past us. Setting ourselves on autopilot mode is an enticing option. Forget the perspective and focus solely on getting through the 'work' and back to a comfortable chair where I don't have to think anymore... But we were made for more than that.

This week I had the privilege of sitting around a table of Godly and gifted staff members. Brad, our director, was here for a few days and we had a ‘check-in’ staff meeting on Thursday night where we discussed some of the current projects and future changes that the mission is undergoing. As I sat amongst friends, each of us with our own important role in helping the Mission of Hope thrive, I thought about how blessed I am to be in this place.

A similar circumstance happened last year around this time as the staff members gathered in prayer before the launch of HaitiOne. Those same feelings of unity and dedication to the people of Haiti and passion for reaching each and every one for Christ was so magnetically pulling. One cannot sit and listen to Brad and not feel called into action.

As he stated to our small staff group a few nights ago, our main goal here is to win Haiti for Christ. Whether it be through a church service, or a school lesson, or treating a sick patient, or sharing meals in the mountains, or praying over a newborn baby, or singing a creole song about Jesus with village children. Each choice to reach out and make a difference has an irreversible impact and no one thing is more significant than another.

And it's the same anywhere around the world. The little things. The simple choices we make carry so much more weight than we realize if only we step out of our current reality and think beyond it. These aren't moments to waste or wish away. This isn't the time to 'wait until tomorrow'. It's time to seize these days. Each fleeting moment I'm given can be a heavenly investment, or it can be gone forever.

As darkness sets in and I prepare to wash my dishes from the day and close the schoolbooks that I've planned with over the weekend, I hope to make this my prayer. I know how easy it is to make a trend out of going through the motions, but I hope tomorrow is another fresh start. I hope that I can live in the moment with a heavenly perspective, and I hope that I may steward the gifts bestowed on me in a way that glorifies the One who gave them.