We’re here in Disney World!! (Mark, Natalie, Mommy, Daddy and me!). It’s a bit crazy – the “magic” and glamour of it all, and then thinking how many people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. In many ways, it’s hard to “be all here.” And yet, being surrounded by all of the “dreams come true” here, it’s easy to forget the rest of the world – then again, that’s what you’re supposed to do on vacation, right? And I shouldn't feel guilty about that...right?
I tried to entertain the thoughts of carrying water on my head in the village in India, while I was eating ice cream shaped like Mickey and watching fireworks at Magic Kingdom. The two ideas could not exist in the same thought – it nearly gave me a headache to try and picture both worlds at once. It’s interesting to consider the balance. On the one hand, it’s important to embrace my own culture enough (good and bad) to be a part of it, and yet not too much to be swept away by it. It’s important to be able to entertain memories of village life, yet be able to fully accept American culture and life, and be completely content here too.
I find it encouraging to remember that we are “temporary residents and foreigners” (2 Peter 2:11) on this earth. NIV says, “…aliens and strangers in the world…” We are commanded to “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 1:2).
Another reassuring thought is one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world." ~ C.S. Lewis.
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