I think June is so hard out here on the field.
1. First, you're still working or in school while your friends in the States are posting happy pictures of vacations, pool time, strawberry festivals, and other fun summer activities while your life grinds busily on, sped up by..
2. doing normal life on top of goodbyes. In our field of education, June always means goodbyes, both to students and also to friends. No one likes goodbyes, but it is important to do them well, and sometimes those goodbyes give you a last chance to pour into someone or be poured into yourself. You find yourself very carefully mapping out meals in June, only to have that one chill-at-home meal be suddenly replaced by a meal with a friend who calls and wants to see you that one last time, and you go because of the importance of goodbyes. But you're scheduling all this around...
3. moving or helping others move. In our field, someone is always going on home leave or moving to a different city across the country for whatever reason. When you're the one moving, it means saying goodbye to absolutely everyone, and when others are moving it means helping them and also being prepared to grieve their loss. Moving is really busy, and it's much harder to move here, without so many storage facilities and options like you have in the States. It disrupts your life for weeks on end, and leaves you camping in your own house toward the end, after you've sent your stuff off to the place you have at length figured out for it to be stored over summer break so you can start the craziness of August a bit ahead of the game. Camping in your own house also doesn't provide much of a refuge against:
4. grief. There's always grief associated with loss, and there's a lot of relational loss in June. Moving away or watching friends move away, saying goodbyes and lots of last times, tears and hugs, it's a month of grief. All the appreciation cards you write and receive help, but it's still a time of loss and there's a lot of emotion involved. Even the sweet times have an aftertaste of bitterness as you know the reality of upcoming separation. Sometimes there's even the deeper bitterness of...
5. doubt. Have I actually accomplished anything this year? Has all this grief, hard work, pryer, friendship, really made any difference? In June you're still too close and it's hard to see what all has been done because you've been faithful.
So why keep on being faithful? Why keep on making new friends when you know another June is coming? Why come back in August after summer break or a home leave end? It's because you trust that He is making a difference through you, that Junes are not forever, that one day the goodbyes will end and the eternal Hello will come. So lift up all you know who are experiencing June, and let's encourage each other to keep our eyes on that eternal place where there is no moving, no grieving, no doubt, and no goodbyes!
1. First, you're still working or in school while your friends in the States are posting happy pictures of vacations, pool time, strawberry festivals, and other fun summer activities while your life grinds busily on, sped up by..
2. doing normal life on top of goodbyes. In our field of education, June always means goodbyes, both to students and also to friends. No one likes goodbyes, but it is important to do them well, and sometimes those goodbyes give you a last chance to pour into someone or be poured into yourself. You find yourself very carefully mapping out meals in June, only to have that one chill-at-home meal be suddenly replaced by a meal with a friend who calls and wants to see you that one last time, and you go because of the importance of goodbyes. But you're scheduling all this around...
3. moving or helping others move. In our field, someone is always going on home leave or moving to a different city across the country for whatever reason. When you're the one moving, it means saying goodbye to absolutely everyone, and when others are moving it means helping them and also being prepared to grieve their loss. Moving is really busy, and it's much harder to move here, without so many storage facilities and options like you have in the States. It disrupts your life for weeks on end, and leaves you camping in your own house toward the end, after you've sent your stuff off to the place you have at length figured out for it to be stored over summer break so you can start the craziness of August a bit ahead of the game. Camping in your own house also doesn't provide much of a refuge against:
4. grief. There's always grief associated with loss, and there's a lot of relational loss in June. Moving away or watching friends move away, saying goodbyes and lots of last times, tears and hugs, it's a month of grief. All the appreciation cards you write and receive help, but it's still a time of loss and there's a lot of emotion involved. Even the sweet times have an aftertaste of bitterness as you know the reality of upcoming separation. Sometimes there's even the deeper bitterness of...
5. doubt. Have I actually accomplished anything this year? Has all this grief, hard work, pryer, friendship, really made any difference? In June you're still too close and it's hard to see what all has been done because you've been faithful.
So why keep on being faithful? Why keep on making new friends when you know another June is coming? Why come back in August after summer break or a home leave end? It's because you trust that He is making a difference through you, that Junes are not forever, that one day the goodbyes will end and the eternal Hello will come. So lift up all you know who are experiencing June, and let's encourage each other to keep our eyes on that eternal place where there is no moving, no grieving, no doubt, and no goodbyes!
