The Great Commissioning

In devotional with the PSF group from Nashville, we used the text of the great commissioning on the first of the two nights I was so blessed to be with them. That night, I was reminded of my purpose here as they were reminded that they are commissioned not only to come, but return home with new eyes.

He commissioned us to check in with each other, to take care of each other, to refuse to pass judgment over someone else’s or our own hardship, and most importantly, to cultivate relationships so everyone feels heard. God doesn’t miss it when a child cries over a lost toy, when a family struggles to eat, when homesickness and loneliness settle in, when a test in college is hard, when there is a cultural misunderstanding, or when a father leaves to go to the US to work. He sees it all. It might seem strange that the juxtaposition of the struggles of my Vanderbilt community and the struggles of my Guatemalan community was clear enough for me to remember a valuable lesson. I really needed to remember that all people have pain no matter their situation in the world. None of that pain goes unseen by God.

I think that living in Guatemala, I have started to numb myself to the pain I see around me. In the first few months, I clearly saw and was moved by the way people suffer here in Guatemala. It is so different than the how we suffer in the states that I came to the assumption that my pain was not as significant. I could see that reading with the kids in the library, though it didn’t serve any long-term solution, brought the students life. I could see that good relationships were a healing source and I worked hard at these little things even through my broken Spanish. But, I pushed aside my homesickness, my lack of exercise, and my loneliness. However, as the year progressed, I think I did exactly what we do in our own cultures. I started to take things for granted. I let my unacknowledged pain wear me down. The shock of the situation faded and it was easier to turn a blind eye when my energy was running low. I think this is exactly how we can ignore when a friend who clearly needs to talk or how we justify speeding past the man on the corner selling the Contributor (homeless newspaper in Nashville). It doesn’t matter where we are or what the problem is, God commissioned us support each other in our pain.