Roots and Wings 13 January 2013

         
            Well tomorrow marks the end of the second week in 2013…yes, I did just type “2012” for the umpteenth time.  I am thankful for 13 days thus far that have been full of frigid (by my moderate climate and pathetic Pacific North West Standard) and beautifully sunny weather, getting back into the swing of working in the afternoons, discovering new favorite books and authors (I’m in a British author phase)…and missing Nairobi in new ways—the smells, the sights, the precious hugs and cries of “how are you?!”, and the many friends I wish still lived a door instead of hours or a day of travel away. As I begrudgingly realize that it has now been more months that I’ve been back then I spent in Kenya, I also have to admit that it’s time to look forward. I am still processing in many ways…and randomly finding that I’m in the second spiral of the hate of materialism and object-based identity—as experienced on  a recent trip to the mall as I looked around and thought“what we’re really looking for is identity…things to define our worth, status, clique…it’s all so temporal and hollow”.

   I’ve also realized that I am a “trip person”…even if it’s just an hour and a half drive to visit a friend, I need that. I need the drive, the change of scenery, the time to think, listen to music and sermons. This Saturday was refreshing—catching up with one of my closest friends…a “meeting in the middle” and a visit to one of my favorite places on earth.


I also have been contemplating the notion of roots and wings. A quote that has always stood out to me from Sweet Home Alabama is when Jake tells Melanie “You can't have roots and wings”. It’s an interesting concept that describes where I am at. I used my wings last year—went to Kenya, further explored this world, my gifts, my call. I also have returned to my roots—with a myriad of different perspectives and dreams. I realized, unlike Jake, that you can have roots and wings. Your roots are the launch pad for your wings. They shape, direct, and enable your flight. A tree can't stand without roots and they are the source of water-of life to the soaring dreams.

 

As I look ahead…to the next 50 weeks of 2013 (hah, typed it right that time). I know that as much as I want to book the next flight back to Nairobi, it is purposeful for me to be here, to return to school as another way of watering roots so I can take flight again. I am thankful for the ebb and flow of life, for roots and wings.