New Month, Fresh Insight

Today I can say that I know all of the 13 Public Relations students' names.  (I can't say yet that I can pronounce them all.)  Today we met for 3 hours.  They now have this blog address; therefore, as I write, a new potential target audience is in my mind.  In this new month, we begin to blend the histories and experiences of my family and friends with those of my new friends, and together it is my hope that we will learn from one another in the process.  Of course, there are risks associated with this.  There's safety and comfort in "sticking with your own" whether for the Liberians or for us in the church in America.

But then, it's not all about us and our tastes, likes and dislikes, is it?  We are commanded by God to use the gift of our minds as a means of learning how to love Him and others more.  As we use our minds to know and be known, we will grow.  Which brings me to another topic------food/growth.

I was rereading the description of the blog that I wrote last October when it was created.  I noticed words like life, change, hope, future, multiply crops, variety, become food for others.  I know that the food/growth word picture in my mind then did not include physical food, but today it does.

Here in Liberia I have plenty of papaya, pineapple, bananas, watermelon.  I think I eat all these fruits daily. I can eat rice daily too.  There are lots of dried beans and other starches too.  In Monrovia when first arriving, I bought what I thought was a lot of food, noticing then how little vegetables of my preference were available. Lots of what I bought is now gone, and securing more is not like going to Kroger or even McDades.  Jamaima, who knows how much I have expressed a desire for the cabbage I have seen around, is having a hard time finding any.  Tomatoes, too, aren't easy to find.  I found eggplant at the market on Saturday, but securing the ingredients that make it taste good to me are not easy.

So, what I am saying is that God is sustaining LIFE, is CHANGING me, is showing me my FUTURE, and is MULTIPLYING CROPS so that I can give FOOD for OTHERS, through the topic of food.

The norm has been challenged.  I find how much I depend on a microwave.  Even heating leftovers for lunch involves learning a new way.  I'm developing tastes for other foods and learning contentment in having food to satisfy my hunger.  Even eating the GB that gave me a stomach ache has been a lesson far bigger than the act of eating something different.

Laytopoe, one of my Public Speaking students, has just come to see me. She wants to talk about her introductory speech she'll give tomorrow.  Her topic is how much she wants to be a capable wife. So, I guess that concludes my latest installment of pondering with you.