Sunday, June 30th was a very interesting and special day. Our group split up and attended five different churches in Ganta and surrounding villages. We spent a leisurely afternoon chatting together and simply relaxing after a week of hard work. On the way back to the guest house, we stopped at Liberia’s northern border with Guinea and walked across for a few minutes. While there, I received a marriage proposal that I’m sure was only a little bit serious. It was a slightly unsettling experience, but I can laugh about it now. Mostly.
I don’t have a quote for this day, just a phrase that I wrote at one point during the sermon. It had to do with my attitude as I walk through life. I’ll ask you the same question I asked myself: Do you walk with your hands out, up and open? I’ll walk through each option.
As we walk through life, we can keep our hands and arms close to our bodies or extended out in front of us. The first is easier, safer. The second is more risky, but it allows us to reach out to others around us.
We also have the choice of which way we point and push ourselves and those around. We can point and encourage either upwards or downwards. Often, if we find our hands facing down, it’s unintentional. That doesn’t make it any less hurtful to us and others, though.
Finally, we have to choose whether to open or close our hands. Again, keeping them closed is easier and safer. But unless we open our hands to catch the things that God rains down on us, we will miss incredible blessings. Granted, we will get cuts and bruises from the pain we will also catch. But we have to choose to catch the bad with the good, or neither at all. We can be exclusive.
I promise I’ll keep doing this daily until the trip is over. So, until tomorrow!
Kate G. Jameson 