Dandelions and Cottonwood . . .first published on 6-8-05

Spring has progressed to the time of dandelion and cottonwood fluff so profuse that the air is littered with various thicknesses of white particles and swatches, and normally dark dirt paths under the trees are carpeted in luxurious cover that looks like snowy blankets.  The trees are full of large spring green leaves and the colorful lilacs and fruit blossoms have bowed off nature's stage.  We had quite a few cold days last week, but the weather came back to what you expect of late spring yesterday.

I am grateful that a care package with some lightweight clothes came from Krista

just in time.  It arrived on a day too cold to wear them, but I trust they will

be well used as spring gives way to summer. 

At English Club this week we played some games.  The students decided that we could have one week discussing topics of interest and one week playing games.  A few weeks ago we played Boggle, which gives them a chance to dredge up whatever English vocabulary they can think of from random letters that come up on a bunch of cubes like dice, but with letters on them.  We probably should try to find a Scrabble game, too, because we had a lot of fun with that when I was teaching English to immigrants in DC.  But last Tuesday we played Mille Bornes.  Did you ever play it?  My brother and sister and I played it a lot when we were kids.  The Rule Book is about 30 pages long, so we played it to the best of my memory of how to play it, only referring to the Rule Book when absolutely necessary.

As we played it was fun to take part in the table talk, mostly in English, though

people have different comprehension and facility levels, so sometimes we broke down and spoke Russian.  At one point it brought back to mind playing cards with Soviet exchange students in the seventies.  Did you know that there are not universal rules to card games that we take for granted?  The Soviets had what we considered were very strange rules and totally rejected our rules out of hand.  It was a very interesting example of how cultural differences affect people.  During the Cold War era, I used to say that the real problem between the West and the East was that the Soviets were playing chess and we were playing football.

Something like that happened with Mille Bornes, too.  It can be a very frustrating

game if you are waiting for a "Roulez!" or "Roll" card so you can begin your virtual road rally race to go a thousand kilometers.  (Either you have played this and understand or I hope you will bear with me as I try to make this clear.)  And if you have a flat tire but can't come up with a flat tire repair card out of the pile, it is not unreasonable to think that you should be able to get one elsewhere.  Or that's the way the students felt from the way their culture works.  It took a great deal of persuasion and pulling out the "It's a RULE!" explanation in order to talk them out of it.  They also were offended that you could put a delay card on anyone at the table instead of just applying it to the person on your left as apparently is their custom.

As we headed out when our second game was over, I told them that maybe next time we would play it according to the local "rules" -- and they were delighted

to hear that.  It got me thinking again about what is "normal".  The longer

I have been a "stranger in this strange land", the more I am getting used

to "normal" here, and I suppose when I get home some things may seem strange

there to me for a while.  We all live according to sets of assumptions about what

is right and good and "normal".  Societies work certain ways and people

make their way through the customs and mores and beliefs and red tape and ways of interacting with their families and neighbors and the people at the places where you register your car or buy your groceries.  Sometimes a stranger can make your day by being friendly and polite and helpful in a place designed to be irritating and complicated.  And sometimes it can go the other way.

My students smile at me as they come into our classroom, and we enjoy being together, but as I've mentioned before, there are few smiles out on the street or in the stores.  It's easier to keep them to myself than to risk giving one away without getting one in return.  But the neat thing is that when I stick to the determination to smile deliberately at a clerk or someone on the bus, they seem happy to talk.  A week or so ago I was buying a few things at the little store across the courtyard from my apartment building and as I checked out I smiled and asked the clerk, "How are things going?" 

The usual answer translates into, "As usual."  But when I ask someone I don't know they usually look at me like they are angry and sometimes don't even

reply.  I was happy that didn't happen in my little store, though.

The clerk, who is probably in her late thirties or early forties, looked at me curiously and said, "As usual," and then asked me if I was from England. 

I, of course, said, "No, from America."

And then she looked amazed, and said, "Why are you here?  Isn't it a lot better in America?"

While I answered that I am here teaching English I considered how to answer her

second question.  I thought of a hymn that has a line in it something about although the skies are blue over my nation, in other nations the sky is blue as well.  I thought of the differences evident to me as I am getting used to being here.  And I thought of the long way they had come since the breakup of the Soviet Union as well as the struggles they are still having.  But I answered, "You have the same things we have." 

She looked incredulous, so I put out my hand and told her my name and asked her for hers.  She smiled a bigger smile than before and said it is Marshak, and I replied with the usual formal phrase, "It's very pleasant to meet you." and she

agreed.  So now I have a friend to chat with when I go to my little store to pick

up a few things like kielbasa (I like the bologna-type better than the one more

like salami), pilmeni -- something like little ravioli or tortellini, or bread or whatever.

And the other day when I was there Marshak pulled over a young clerk who I have seen there before and said to me, "She wants to study English.  You said you are an English teacher, right?"

I said, yes, and spoke with the young girl about our program.  She asked where the classes are and although I could have taken here there, I don't know the address, so I told her I would bring in one of our flyers.  And now I have two new friends at my little store.  Isn't that great?!  I'm happy about it.  *smile*

It reminds me of that "Pass It On" song -- and that saying, "If you see people without a smile, give them some of yours!" 

So that's a bit about some of the joys here, but there are also struggles, of course.  The biggest struggle I have had here has to do with the allergy to mold which is part of the fibromyalgia syndrome I deal with almost daily.  I have prayed for deliverance from it all, but it remains, so I was interested in something I saw in the Upper Room readings last week on May 24th.  I get them online, and they are always inspiring and encouraging. The passage from 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul is writing about his struggles with the thorn in his flesh came up that day.  As you remember, I'm sure, Paul relates that he asked the Lord three times to take away the thorn and in reply the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you.  My strength is made perfect in weakness."

And then Paul tells the Corinthians that because he lives out of God's strength

rather than by his own power, he is not able to boast about what he alone is able

to do.  He is able instead to give the glory to God and boast only about what the

Lord does in Him and through Him.  Since my earliest encounters with this passage as a child, I have always been amazed at Paul's ability to accept the Lord's will that he has to continue to deal with the weakness.  When I was little it was hard to understand how Paul could find peace in the situation rather then fussing and whining about it.  And it seemed like God was being unfair because a thorn in the flesh is not that big a deal, although it can be irritating and even painful.

A friend here said that although it is frustrating not to be able to do all the

things you want to do because of dealing with adversity like the fibromyalgia kicking up, life is not about what you think you are supposed to do.  We are not human doings, but human beings, and sometimes it is easy to forget that and focus only on what we or others do rather than appreciating the fact that we are who we are.  God loves us not for what we do -- we don't have to perform for His approval.  And anything we do out of our own strength is inferior to what God can do in us and with us. But it is difficult because we are raised to be people pleasers and to get our needs met by performing for our suppers.  Sometimes we think all we have comes from the work of our hands instead of being a provision of the Lord out of the bounty of His goodness and His riches in glory.

We run around with our own agendas and hardly take the time to don't stop to see what the Lord is doing and seek to join Him.  God finally answered Paul when he asked and asked and asked to be delivered from the thorn in his flesh.  And thank God Paul wrote it down and the Corinthians not only saved it, but shared it.  The Holy Spirit has made the message fruitful for many people over the centuries, I am sure.  In the healing ministry it is an important passage because we don't always understand why God does not heal someone.  Comfort comes from believing that God always has a reason and that He uses everything for good.  We are not meant to be here forever, so when a prayer for healing is answered with a "No" and the person passes on to glory -- or when someone continues to suffer, we can have a hard time with it.

We are not meant to sojourn here forever, and sometimes our deliverance comes through passing on.  As Christians we have the comfort, joy and hope that we will be drawn to the Lord and rejoin our loved ones, and trust that they are at peace in the fullness of His joy.  And after all, this is a vale of tears, although even in grief and suffering we can know the joy of the Lord as our strength.  So we keep on keeping on as Paul did. 

As far as my struggles are concerned I find myself whining about them too often

when it's so much more difficult for many other people.  And my prayer for them

is that they, too, will hear the Lord say, "My grace is sufficient for you.  My strength is made perfect in weakness," and be comforted and encouraged.

My niece, Chelsea, had her 18th birthday on the first of June and my Mom's 76th

birthday is on the 11th. I miss being able to be there to help them celebrate. But

I'm comforted that no matter how much time we will have together here on earth,

by God's grace we will be able to be together eternally sharing the same love we

have now but in a new way.  Isn't that amazing and wonderful?  Praise God!

I hope you have a good weekend and a lovely week in the Lord.