Widening Our Horizons, Shrinking The Ponds - September 18, 2011

It is amazing to see photos taken by our Jen of the “other side of the world”!  Oh my word, what a beautiful country!  What amazing architecture!  What welcoming and gracious people!  How amazing to learn through her about one of the world’s oldest cultures that happens right now to be a very young independent republic. 

Macedonia is barely out of its teen years as a nation.  It is hard for me to wrap my mind around their vast history and that contrast to this unique period in their life as a nation.  Their struggles to become a nation, not just a blend of cultures and ethnicities, are awing.  In a world where unemployment, national debts, hunger, violence, diversity, and fear hang over all of our heads - Macedonia is also trying to find its national identity and its place among the nations of Eastern Europe and the world.

Viewing the simple photographs taken with a small camera.... reading her blog posts......  listening to her brief descriptions....  impact us with her authenticity and willingness to accept this opportunity!  In turn she is opening our eyes, our minds, and widening our horizons.  She is giving us the gift of knowledge, understanding, and awareness of a distinctive region of our world and its people.  As she shares, the world gets smaller for us!

Likewise in Macedonia, as she is seen, as she is heard, as she is watched, as she works with the students, as she becomes known.....  the Macedonian people develop a knowledge of all of us!

With each sharing and as the days pass....  our horizons broaden and the pond that separates us shrinks.
As they know her and learn about America ....  their horizons broaden and the pond that separates us shrinks.

A notable speaker has made this comment: “Christianity spreads at the speed of friendship”.

We are physically observing the truth of this comment.  Not that Jen’s experience and relationships are the spread of Christianity, but in a much broader sense her experience and our participation in it demonstrates for all of us the even greater truth that understanding and acceptance spread at the speed of friendship.

As we know each other, as we learn the depth of each other - understanding and acceptance will spread.  The spread happens one relationship at a time!

Oh my word, that is true wherever we are in life....  in all issues and opinions and separations.

Whether we are trying to unify the world, a nation, a company, a school, a social group of people -  to develop understanding and acceptance  - we grow at the speed of our  healthy relationships.   To move forward in living in a world of understanding and acceptance - sprout a new friendship.  We need to remember what is seen and heard from us is as important in building bridges as what we see and hear from others.  What messages do we send?

In an election year, we may need to hold on firmly to this concept as we will be tempted over and over again to shout out our divisions, to scream about inequities, to point out the faults of others....  let’s embrace our individual opportunities to widen our horizons and shrink our ponds (wherever we are....  and whatever ponds we may encounter).