Parent, child, traveller, host

Over the last few weeks we have had the great privilege of welcoming my brother Michael and sister-in-law Rachael and their two kids, my nephew Caleb and niece Meredith. Our kids were on top of the world (sometimes a bit out of this world) with the chance to play together with their younger cousins again.  It was really interesting to see how these four children have grown in the last year, and see how they interact in new ways.  Active and creative play with Caleb. Curious and caring play with Meredith, who's now a year old.

In the last week we had the great privilege of welcoming a family into our MCC team in Managua, Darrin and Julie, and their three children.  I'm noticing Lia and Silas again on top of the world to be with these new friends, who are a little older than they are.  It's been interesting to observe the new children on the team as well, each processing the new setting in their own way.

Watching these children in these last weeks has made me think again about what children can teach us.  Jesus says we need to become as children to find the kingdom of heaven.  Something that kids do better than anyone is imagine and play.  It's been a long time since I've picked up a few inanimate objects to spin some story for personal entertainment.  But this is part of how kids process things.  Poor Silas is terrified of the fumigators who come through the neighborhood to smoke out the mosquitoes.  But not long ago I saw him playing with an astronaut Lego man, pretending that the astronaut's equipment was some fumigation equipment as the little man made his way through the Lego house.  I'm also impressed by how quickly kids can (not always) adapt within new settings. Last school year Lia and Silas settled into multiple childcare/school settings each time picking up on the routines, learning to read people of different ages and languages in each setting.

Somehow we carry the assumption that we will offer our children a solid foundation that supports them as they grow.  Roots and wings, some say.  When living and adapting in a new cultural setting it becomes obvious to us, and to the kids, that we are figuring this out as we go.  I suppose that is true for parenting even when everyone is in their "home culture." Regardless, everyone parenting really gets just one swing at this opportunity. We are hardly a solid foundation. We are just as vulnerable as our children, but we aren't as quick as children are to re-imagine our world and adapt within it.  In order to understand ourselves, those around us, and find/receive the kingdom of heaven, we need to become as children.

In this last week we have felt uncomfortable as the cases of Zika feel closer. The numbers of cases in the news tick upwards and we now know a handful of people personally who have had it. Rebekah is now well into her second trimester, which according to many sources is much less risky, but there is still plenty of unknown.  We continue to take all obvious precautions, but there is still a frustratingly mysterious side to this:  mosquitoes bite through clothes (even when soaked in permethrin), the asymptomatic cases, and limited availability of testing and limited confirmed science around what anyone would actually do if they had a positive test.  Anyhow, when we feel vulnerable, it seems easy to lose our creativity, our imagination, our ability to be flexible and adapt.

We find ourselves on all sides of these relationships we inhabit.  Sometimes we feel like the parent, the host, the teacher, the leader.  Other times we are the child, the guest, the learner, the follower.  Mostly it's all mixed up.

I wrote a song about this several months ago. It seems to take slightly different meaning for me at different moments.  I'll share it here.

Grace and peace to you and yours, whoever, wherever you might be.