beauty in the desert

so a recent dialogue has brought me to understand further what it means to be in a desert. we know in the christian faith that growth comes from spending time in a desert, but i've been recently challenged in my view of that growth. we see a desert (or tough, barren times) as something to quickly scramble out of in order to continue on our ascent towards perfection. we view the desert as a vital way to grow in our human condition to reach this perfection. but we are already made perfect in Christ. which means that perfection already exists within that desert just as well as perfection exists out of the desert, on that mountain peak.

today as soon as i got off work, i drove to will's work to greet him with a coffee and a muffin. i then stayed with him until he was off, 2 hours later. during those two hours, we sat mostly in silence, but found deep richness in the state of being together. there was something extremely special about it. reflecting on it now, i am truly thankful for this because if it weren't for the job i'm working and the life i'm living, that moment would not have been possible. if it weren't for this desert, i wouldn't have discovered that beauty and perfection lies within it.

peace and joy in a puddle of uncertainty

outside, my life looks pretty standard. inside it feels pretty bizarre. i'm married to the most incredibly sweet and considerate and funny and stone-cold-foxy human being. i work in a coffee shop part-time. i live in a house. we have friends we see occasionally. we eat popcorn and watch movies often. we ski on weekends.

inside, i question a lot.

who... what... where... when... ummmm why?

answers please.

i have a ton of dreams. we could do this at this time in this place for this very great reason. orrrrr what about this? orrrrr ooh ooh this one would be soo great!

i battle with it a lot. there is incredible value (most times it is crucial) in waiting and listening and resting and being uncomfortable in this stand-still. but what about everything that's going on outside of this lovely millarville home? what about clearance and lorraine? what about the mother that abandoned her baby in the dumpster in lloydminster? what about the somalian women in britian who continue to take their young girls to somalia to be circumcised, feeding their own oppression? what about the kids in our schools waiting to discover that they can question? what about the kids who just need someone to see them? what about any of the people here (rich, poor, fat, thin, ... broken) suffering?

there's got to be something brewing for us.

until then, i guessssssss, i will try to be patient. until then, i will embrace the beautiful moments with my husband in this quiet time. i will embrace the peace and joy that somehow exists within this.

My friend the Artist

http://www.sknac.ca/index.php?page=ArtistOfTheMonth&id=5

Good News from Nigeria

I wrote earlier about two girls in Nigeria whose home was demolished by the government. Today my dear friend Jackie wrote this to me:

I met your little girls in Ilaje community. What is so cool is that they remembered you as the white girl with long hair after I told them that there is a friend of theirs that was really concerned about their whereabouts after their house was demolished... so I have a pic of them waving at you to say they are safe, God protected them..

the moments of my day

there are moments within every season or every situation of life. the moments are usually small but we were created for them. these moments exist everyday and although they are small, it is how we fulfill our purpose in life. although they are small, they require risk. we need to give up ourselves and surrender to the people and the God around us. that's the only way we can step into these moments because the world around us is telling us that these moments are small, insignificant, and not worthwhile. but it's in these moments that God truly works.

i will enter His gates

We started the day by sleeping in and then having breakfast ... pancakes, hashbrowns, fruit, eggs. We then proceeded to sit together and watch beautiful music. Then we decided to go on an outdoor adventure. We longboarded for a bit and then stashed our boards in the forest under leaves (Will did a great job of hiding.. I could barely find them when we returned). We walked up the hill and then just sat together for a long while. We talked and we sat in silence. For the most part it just felt like we were basking in God's goodness. It was beautiful. It was refreshing.

I am so so thankful for this life.

Some people just don't count.

In 2009 I had the opportunity to visit Nigeria, specifically a community called Ilaje in Lagos. I blogged about it here. Ilaje was fascinating because half of the people lived on the land and half lived on the water in these wooden shacks on stilts.

I recently discovered that the government demolished all the homes that were on the water, leaving many families homeless and hopeless. Some have secured shelters on land but many have left looking for shelter elsewhere.

The only thing I could find on it are these excerpts from an article I found online:

The Lagos State Government has ordered the demolition of over 400 shanty homes on Ilaje Lagoon in Bariga Local Council Development Area, LCDA, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
With this development over 1, 000 Ilaje people living on water in the area will be displaced.

Commissioner for Waterfront and Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru visited the area on Wednesday and was unhappy about what he saw, saying that government could no longer tolerate a situation where its waterfront is turned into a slum by the Ilajes and that they have to quit the place.
According to him, the area had been an eyesore, especially when viewed from the Third Mainland Bridge, stressing that this ugly spectacle could drive away foreign investors visiting Lagos for the first time.
He vowed that the government would demolish all the shanties at the next visit, adding that, “we have come here to warn you to leave this place; we would not come back here to warn you again.
“The bridge you see there is an international link bridge, and we do not like the eyesore these shanties are creating here, we do not want them near the bridge anymore. The entire area has been bastardised with shanties in the water and we would remove them if you refuse to move.”

On the possibility of relocating them, Oniru said that there were no plans to assist the dwellers relocate to other areas, saying, “Why will you relocate someone that is not supposed to be in this area in the first place? There are people here along the water front, they are not supposed to be here; they should move away from there and I don’t believe that a plan should be put in place to relocate them”.

It's easy to let it pass, but there are two girls stuck in my mind that I can't shake. They lived in a home on the water and attended one of our community schools.




They have a name. But now they don't have a home.

Help me pray for them and others like them.

Please pray for those in authority to have wisdom and that our displaced children can be resettled and that they can continue enjoying food security, basic health care and education provided for in the community based organisation in Ilaje community. Pray that our children will be able to come back and continue with their education.