Mon Aventure

Two whole weeks have passed since my last post.  Why haven't I written?  So much has happened in the last two weeks.  I've made new friends, I've been on a sight seeing tour, and I've plunged into my art career with zest and energy.  Chris and I have settled into the daily routine of life and we love our new life in Switzerland.  It's every bit as exciting and full of adventure as I hoped.  There's so much to see and do here and I don't want to miss a thing.

I haven't yet been inspired to share with you more of the obvious... living in a new country is exciting.  I'm willing for you to continue this journey with me and see all the excitement, so long as you have a true picture of reality.

We all have our demons, the sorrows that haunt us and the battles we fight in our heart.  I didn't shirk mine when I sailed away to Switzerland.  Mine didn't need a ticket to get here on a plane and they didn't need a stamp to pass through customs. 

I didn't come here to run away from my problems.  That wasn't the goal.  I face problems.  I don't run from them.  But when I got here and everything was so exciting, I did experience the hope that the dark days I experienced in the U.S. wouldn't come and rob my joy here in Switzerland.  It's easy to take your homeland for granted and not fight very hard when gloomy days enter your heart.  I didn't feel I was missing much.  But in a new country, it's obvious that there's so much to do and so much to see and our time here is limited.  I don't want to miss the good stuff while being weighed down by the bad stuff.  The temptation is just as strong in Switzerland as it is in the U.S.  When I get back to the U.S. I won't take it for granted as often as I did before.

What feuls my dark days?  Use your imagination.  What feuls your dark days?  Usually it's silly stuff.  Like my husband is leaving me here in a foreign country to go on a business trip for 4 days and I dread the lonely nights. 

You men might relate to this next one...  on Friday, Chris' computer crashed and it put him in a sour mood all day Saturday.

Most of us have a least one or two big sorrows.  Griefs that we rate as more worthy by the standards we've created.  For me it's 9 years of infertility. 

Yep, when I started this blog, I didn't think I was going to mention this subject, but there it is... an uncomfortable topic for all of us. 

If I didn't name it, you wouldn't believe me if I told you I have sorrows that rate as high as yours.  To borrow a concept from a recent Chris Rice song, life has clearly given me lemonade in almost every way.  So why do we spend a day or two here and there fixating on the one or two lemons?  Is it our inate longing for the past perfection of the Garden of Eden, and our hope and yearning for a future perfection in Eternity with God?  I hope so.  This sure puts us in a better light than to say we're just a bunch of ungrateful people, ungrateful for all the good stuff and never satisfied.

How much grieving is healthy?  This is a question I haven't answered yet. 

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.  - Ecclesiastes

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. - Matthew

Jesus wept with Mary and Martha.

But I don't like to mourn.  I like to dance.  So when is it time to mourn and when is it time to dance?  When does mourning become unfruitful wallowing?

Half of Isaiah is filled with the delight God takes in turning our mourning into dancing.  Those who are willing can be like a well watered garden in a sun scorched (barren) land.

So when do we mourn and when do we dance?  I don't think there is a simple answer to this question.  It probably goes back to my post in December entitled Immanuel.  Those who are listening for His direction, will know what time it is. 

Shhhhhh.  I'm trying to listen.