Home
The last six weeks have just flown by. I was so blessed to be able to take some time off from my regular ministry and return to the U.S. to spend time with family and friends. I was able to visit a few churches and make a few presentations, but mostly, I was able to disconnect briefly from my responsibilities in Japan and just spend time with my people in America. I intentionally didn't schedule much work or Japanese study during that time so that I could be fully present and engaged in their lives. I spent the first leg of my trip with my sister, her husband, and their new baby, then went to GA to visit my brother, his wife, and their new baby. Next, I spent some time with my parents on a wonderful trip to the beach. Then I went to Las Vegas to see my oldest brother, his wife, and their two kids. Finally, I was back in Illinois for the last week. In the midst of my travels I was also able to see my best friend, another nephew, my grandma, and some aunts and uncles. All in all, it was an amazing month and a half that provided me with a wealth of relational times, sweet memories, and wonderful cuddles with my nieces and nephews. I am impossibly grateful for the time I had with people I love so deeply.
I got on a plane to return to Japan on the 27th and it was bittersweet, like it always is. Goodbyes are hard. Saying goodbye to people I love is hard. Coming home to other people I love is a joy. In a lot of ways, I don't even know what all I'm feeling. I know that I am thankful for the time that I had this summer. I am also sad to have said goodbye again. Yet, I am also glad to be back home. I am excited for a new school year and pumped to see my students again. While I was so enjoying time in the States, I was also missing my students and my life in Japan. I am feeling a complicated mix of emotions.
It is times like these that make me long for heaven even more. I long for the togetherness and perfect community we will experience there. In Christ, the family of God enjoys a shadow and a foretaste of that perfection here on earth as we live life together and carry one another's burdens and joys. But our earthly community is always marred by separation and loss. We can never be with all those we love at the same time and even if we could, we couldn't give them all the level of attention and love we would want to at the same time. We are limited and fragile and our relationships and interactions with others are the same.
But even as I am feeling this swirl of emotions, I am still so thankful for God's goodness. I am so blessed to have more than one community of people who I love and am privileged to spend time with. I am so blessed that Japan's borders were open enough to allow me to travel and that I don't have to do any quarantine now that I'm home in Japan. I am so blessed to be able to do work that I love every day and am so privileged to be able to teach and mentor my students. And I am so blessed to have the support of my family and friends who encourage me and pray for me.
No, goodbyes are never easy. But I am so thankful that as I left one home, I came back to another. And I am so thankful for the life the Lord has given me.
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