Thoughts on coming home
In less than two weeks we will be on an airplane, traveling to the US for the first time in two years. Going home. Even though I have been in Panama for almost 14 years now, and my parents have sold the house I grew up in, Oregon is still home. The smell of the pine trees, the fresh breeze, the blue skies, even the rain, it all says home.
Yet, as many missionaries and other world travelers have found out, coming home is not always what it's cracked up to be. The first time can often be the hardest. A young missionary has just finished their first months or years on the "mission feild" and is ready to return for some needed rest. They dream of the foods they want to eat, the stores they will visit, long for hot showers and convesation with family.
Yet when they arrive home everything seems overwelming. Their own home seems so much nicer than they remember. The plenty of food that they dreamed of just the week before suddenly seems like too much, as they vividly remember the inpoverished home where they recently visited. Everyone seems so busy, so wealthy, so caught up in things that this young missionary hasn't even thought about for months.
I remember coming home after my first missionary experience, a 5 month training school called a DTS. I went through immigration and customs, and wandered around in a daze, overwelmed in the midst of reverse culture shock. I can't remember if it was that same trip, but I also remember visiting the local Fred Meyer, and leaving their almost in tears, just totally overwelmed by all the variety, the new products and the prosperity.
I have talked to many people who have returned home after being abroad, who have had similar experiences.
I still experience some of this when I return home. But I fear that I also fall into a much more subtle trap than culture shock. And that is materialism.
Sure, it's present here as well. But the missionary lifestyle can insulate you to a certain extent. Yet there it is, waiting for you when you return home. Materialism, the gateway to greed and coveting. We don't hear much about coveting. Many people probably wonder why it even belongs among the ten commandments. I mean, what's so bad about wanting something?
Soon you begin noticing things that people have. Nice things, Thing you wouldn't mind having yourself. And then comes the discontent, that little voice saying, "You can't really be happy until you have this."
This seems the biggest enemy we face at times. So I had a little talk with myself before I left Panama. I reminded myself that I have been working on being contect, that I am happy with the little house that God has provided for us at the moment, and that more objects won't translate into a more fulfilled life.
I hope I don't forget this halfway into our trip while I observe someone's new IPad or enjoy a hot shower at my Mom's house. Hopefully I can enjoy all the wonderful moments that life offers, the comfortable one's here, the bittersweet goodbyes, the bittersweet arrival in my adopted homeland, and the simple pleasures that wait for me there: the sight of a palm tree waving outside my door, a warm tropical breeze, the kindness of neighbors, the joy of being part of something bigger than myself.
Yet, as many missionaries and other world travelers have found out, coming home is not always what it's cracked up to be. The first time can often be the hardest. A young missionary has just finished their first months or years on the "mission feild" and is ready to return for some needed rest. They dream of the foods they want to eat, the stores they will visit, long for hot showers and convesation with family.
Yet when they arrive home everything seems overwelming. Their own home seems so much nicer than they remember. The plenty of food that they dreamed of just the week before suddenly seems like too much, as they vividly remember the inpoverished home where they recently visited. Everyone seems so busy, so wealthy, so caught up in things that this young missionary hasn't even thought about for months.
I remember coming home after my first missionary experience, a 5 month training school called a DTS. I went through immigration and customs, and wandered around in a daze, overwelmed in the midst of reverse culture shock. I can't remember if it was that same trip, but I also remember visiting the local Fred Meyer, and leaving their almost in tears, just totally overwelmed by all the variety, the new products and the prosperity.
I have talked to many people who have returned home after being abroad, who have had similar experiences.
I still experience some of this when I return home. But I fear that I also fall into a much more subtle trap than culture shock. And that is materialism.
Sure, it's present here as well. But the missionary lifestyle can insulate you to a certain extent. Yet there it is, waiting for you when you return home. Materialism, the gateway to greed and coveting. We don't hear much about coveting. Many people probably wonder why it even belongs among the ten commandments. I mean, what's so bad about wanting something?
Soon you begin noticing things that people have. Nice things, Thing you wouldn't mind having yourself. And then comes the discontent, that little voice saying, "You can't really be happy until you have this."
This seems the biggest enemy we face at times. So I had a little talk with myself before I left Panama. I reminded myself that I have been working on being contect, that I am happy with the little house that God has provided for us at the moment, and that more objects won't translate into a more fulfilled life.
I hope I don't forget this halfway into our trip while I observe someone's new IPad or enjoy a hot shower at my Mom's house. Hopefully I can enjoy all the wonderful moments that life offers, the comfortable one's here, the bittersweet goodbyes, the bittersweet arrival in my adopted homeland, and the simple pleasures that wait for me there: the sight of a palm tree waving outside my door, a warm tropical breeze, the kindness of neighbors, the joy of being part of something bigger than myself.
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