I sit in a home in the midst of PNGs (Papua New Guineas) finest representation of its culture, a local families living room. Geckoes chirp and chase the flying ants over my fresh coconut juice (Yes, a rusty machete was involved). I’m reminded of the fire flies back home but on a larger scale as the power continues its games of hide and seek. Today is Sunday. The service lasted for over four hours this morning. Songs from the Spirit cloaked the breeze like red on a rose, prayers where the streets they walked to heaven on and the message still weighs on my soul. I only caught a glimpse of my native language for a few moments throughout but who needs words when you have radical passion?
How can I make this a part of my world?
Is PNG perfect? NO! On the drive to and from church there was a different shade all around us. What I saw can be described as an over whelming abundance of what appeared to be the results of a cyclone collecting a major recycling facility and redistributing its contents ALL over this beautiful land. In short, there’s trash everywhere! Think drunken party gone wrong and left to grow into a way of life. The antithesis of red on a rose for sure!
What has this got to do with change though?
In the past when I started to think about the ways I’ve changed I couldn’t help but look at my future. My future has always revolved around how I can be a better me. Always push for the next step forward. Be the early bird and get the worm. Work hard to prepare to overcome being the first mouse after the cheese so as to be able to snap back for the last laugh. Always analyse yourself and those around you so you can someday wake up to a perfect world as a result of constant progressive change. Lets quickly look back at my current spot… Geckoes and coconuts in the midst of a beautiful mess. Right now, at this moment I have absolutely no need to be a better me. If I don’t need to be better it means I can relax in the now. So what changed? At the beginning of this paragraph I suggested what used to happen when I looked at my past was I would jump to my future. Again, what changed?
Tonight I was getting some insight on these thoughts from my most current adopted parents here in PNG. Gima (aka Mom) was filling me in on what the message was about this morning. The passage was from Ephesians 1:17-23. She explained that God wants to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in Him so we can more clearly walk in what He calls us into. This means there is no more need to change into what I think I need to be in preparations for my future. The change I went through was realising I don’t need to change anymore. I may change but it will be the result of growth, not preparations. In John 15 it speaks about abiding in Him. If we don’t we wont bear fruit and if we don’t bear fruit we’ll be either cut off or pruned so we do bear fruit. This suggests growth stems from the vine, not from personal analysis.
Serious questions for thought… Are you as close to God as you can be? Are you bearing the fruit you were created to produce? Are you cutting the things that stunt your growth and pursuing the things that increase your growth. Have you experienced fresh coconut juice often enough in your life? Does God want you to give Dave more fresh coconut juice right now? Does not having enough fresh coconut juice effect ones ability to stay on topic?!
Back to that post on change…
The idea that an entire culture is ok with what appeared to be a less than beautiful way of life baffled me until I realized we all have our personal cultural blips of insane extremes. I spent the majority of my waking moments viewing everyone from an objective stand point in pursuit of my perfect world. These locals would have shown me how incredibly foolish I was as they spent their last cent to buy me a drink simply to bless me. I would follow by condemning them for taking my trash and chucking it in the gutter. Who was the one missing the bigger point? The title may have led you to believe I have the answer to the desperate quandary of finding an efficient way to change. I do! The answer is simple, don’t change. Simply relentlessly pursue God and be ok with the world changing around you as you become more in love with it. I’m finding that I’m seeing less and less debris and experiencing more and more beauty. If you want the most out of the people you love start by letting go of your world and try stepping into theirs. Maybe your perception will change and result in a more beautiful world or maybe God will use your love to literally change it into a more beautiful world. Regardless, It may sound crazy and they may hate you for it but it worked out pretty good for me when God did it!
Here’s to growth in the lives of those I love most. As long as we stay in our own world change will always be hard. As soon as we let go of our controlled safe world and start pursuing Gods world change becomes beautiful. I encourage you all to let go and live.
Rock On,
David Snader 