Reintegration

December 15, Saturday, EST

It has been over a month since we got home.  The time has flown.  Our days are filled with a combination of coming home and memories of the last year.  How do you integrate the two?

We have changed.  That part is no secret.  We have had experiences that many people (including many people that we know) will never have.  Ever.  We know people who have never left the state of Maine, and have no intention to.

I would compare the experience to that of a missionary.  I am not, in any way, saying that we are missionaries.  But how does a missionary reintegrate into society.  They are coming back from an experience that no one around them will ever have.  They have no one to talk to.  No friends have seen what they have seen.  Done what they have done.  How do you describe that to people?  That is the type of experience we are going through now.  How do you fit back into a life that no longer fits you?  A life that is welcoming you back into all that is familiar, but that familiarity is no longer comfortable to you?

Most people don’t know what to say.  Or how to say it.  “Glad to have you back!” is pretty common.  “Welcome back!” is a close second.  People just don’t know what to say.

The girls are back to school, one way or another.  A is back in grade school.  M is in pre-school.  K is in a homeschooling group.  All seem to be glad to be back and enjoying themselves.

We have bought another vehicle.  We are looking at houses.  We are trying to determine what our new life, our new purpose, is going to look like.  And we don’t have the answer.  Not yet.  But it will come.

Jesus never promised a comfortable life.  He promised life abundant (or life to the fullest).  Life full of excitement. Of risk.  Of purpose.  So who am I to deny him this opportunity?

Somehow God will take the last year of our life and use that to give our future new purpose.  But that new purpose is still being formed.  The ensuing journey promises to be full of risk, bumps, uncertainty and excitement.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.