Stepping Toward the Kingdom

Mama Lucy and the eight kittens.
Squeaks is the gray one in the center.

I've just tied up loose ends to my first post-college job.  It's been quite the adventure.  I've made friends with teenagers, peers, and people who have "adopted" me as a daughter.  I've seen the countryside of Hungary, Austria, Russia, and Slovakia.  I've toured Budapest, Vienna, Frankfurt, St. Petersburg, Kosice, and Brataslava.  I've seen high school students pray to receive Christ in English, Hunagarian, Russian, and Slovak on beaches, in restaurants, hotel meeting rooms, and snowbanks.  I've been through the best times and the worst times of my life with the people whom I worked with.

This "job" was far more than a job--it was an experience...a lifestyle.  Leaving has meant grieving.  Leaving has meant learning how to use my hands and feet in a new way--it has meant spreading my wings and depending on Jesus for the strength to fly.

My boyfriend and I came upon two litters of kittens a few months ago.  They were all about 2-3 weeks old at the time.  For a long time all eight of these kittens would sleep cuddled up in a big pile.  If they got separated from the pile they would cry and mama would comfort them, nurse them, then put them back into the kitten pile.  As they got older, they began to explore the world around them--straying further and further from mama.  They would often explore together in twos or threes.  Soon they were running around, jumping on things and each other, and didn't pay much notice to where mama was.  Now, they've all gone to homes.

I have one of the kittens--Squeaks.  She seems perfectly happy on her own.  She's grown accustomed to sleeping on her own and playing with herself.  However, she still loves it when I (or Charlie, my roommate's cat) will play with her.  I wake up in the morning and she likes to curl up in the blankets with me a purr.

It seems a bit cheesy but I relate to the journey these kittens have been on as they've grown up in a way.  My job was comfortable, for the most part.  I liked to be in the masses of like-minded believers.  I went on a lot of adventures with them by my side.  I walked through some really difficult times in my life and my co-worker-friends were right beside me the whole way.  It was the body of Christ cuddling up to me, just like the kitten pile.  However, I'm ready to get out of that comfortable place and explore things on my own.  I've come into a community of believers to continue to walk my faith journey alongside me but they aren't as built in as my work family has been.  I have to make more of an effort to find opportunities to share my faith, seek council from a friend, or engage in wholesome fun.

In my process of grieving the absence of my missionary career, I've found peace in the community of God's Kingdom away from my missionary "family."  I've stepped out in my journey Home--the comfort of Jesus' arms in heaven.