There is an area along the way to Entebbe, Uganda that captures my eyes every time we pass it. Photos just do not do it justice. Rolling hills, blue skies, and neatly carved out dark green tea gardens saturating the countryside. It always steals my attention.
Because we work with so many short-term teams, we are constantly coming to and from the airport in Entebbe. Each time my husband and I make that long trip to bid farewell to another team or another volunteer, those tea fields beckon for me.
In my mind I just think, One Day.
One day, I will look out to you for the last time. You will cause me to reminisce about the time we have spent in this land, and I’ll begin to miss my Ugandan family and friends. One day, I will gaze out my window and try to take it all in one last time because I will be biding farewell. And as my gaze is fixed upon you, I will begin to anticipate being home. But that One Day is not today. It is not even tomorrow. Most likely, it is not even this year. And I am okay with that. Yes, that’s what I said. I am. But if I am not careful, I’m not.
If I get caught up in the timelines of other people, I can quickly begin to start coveting those short-term missionaries’ airplane seats that will be taking them back home. If I start thinking about my selfish wants and comforts, I can quickly become dissatisfied. On that long, bumpy ride to Entebbe, I can easily allow those luscious hills of tea to wave me in and cause me to quickly start drowning in my own selfish, self pity. Why can’t my One Day be today?
I have to stay focused. I have to actively choose to fix my gaze into the eyes of my Savior every single day. He is teaching me a discipline that I have never known before. He is teaching me to be content in His will. I think about Peter and his eyes that were fixed on Jesus as he stepped out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the water. I can only imagine the intensity that was found in his eyes. I am positive that Peter was not just glancing at Jesus half-heartedly as he jokingly placed his feet upon the water. No, his eyes were fixed on Jesus. That is the way He has me focusing on Him here in Uganda. You can be sure, just as quickly as Peter began to sink as he broke his stare away from Jesus, I too look away and begin to digress into my own sinking sin.
Why can’t my One Day be today? Because there is too much work to be done. There is so much that God wants me and my family to be a part of here. He does not want us to miss out on His best for our family. He is teaching our family patience and trust. He is grafting a little girl into our family, who cannot yet be in the US. He is using us here to graft the lost into the Kingdom of God. He is grafting our family together on the mission field in a way that He has not done before. So I look into the eyes of my Savior and I decide that I am not going to look away. There is no other place that I would rather be than on the very path my God has crafted for me.
– Kelly
