In Preparation for L'Arche

Amey Victoria in May 2006 working in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

In six days I will leave for the great unknown that they call Field Education. In only six short days I will find myself groggy, possibly having slept but with equal potential to have kept watch through the night packing, waiting alone in a chilly airport to catch my 6:00am flight to Toronto. In six days, God created the heavens and the earth. And in six days, I will begin my brief but powerful experience serving in the L'Arche community for the summer (www.larchedaybreak.com/). Funny how much can be shaped and formed in but a few days ... funny to imagine that in six days, even this blog entry will be viewed in such hindsight ... funny, not knowing what lies ahead, but knowing and expecting so much!

Fast forward one year, and she is again pulling out the backpack to adventure with God!

Did I mention that I am scared out of my mind? I've noticed my tendencies toward selfishness in the recent weeks. Amidst exams and papers and deadlines and quirky circumstances and misunderstood conversations and questionable intentions (ah, its good to be in Divinity School come finals week), I've found it much easier to be the Myers-Briggs qualified introvert I am than to overly engage life. Everyone else is out for themselves, taking care of their own, so I might as well be, too, eh? (Don't mind me - I'm just practicing my new Canadian endings here). But deep down I know this is just a cover for insecurity. Somehow, the great sweep of papers and tests took off the edge of ministry. Only now, once again, am I realizing the daunting task of serving for the summer. Only now, once again, am I able to reflect on how well (or not so well) I embraced the daily chances to minister and share life together in this past year. And it is only now, having climbed the daunting mountain that is first-year, that I once again realize how marvelously knitted into the plans of God my life actually is ...

And so, I'm headed to L'Arche Daybreak to live in community with adults living with various disabilities, and perhaps most literally, those considered to be the least of these. And yet, I already can see that these who seem to have least have so much more than the world recognizes. Needless to say, there is little room to be selfish here, or to be so caught up in one's own story that we stop seeing the bigger story, God's story. So, as I spend the next six days saying goodbye, getting over myself, and humbling myself for the work of the Spirit, I welcome this blessed opportunity to share, to learn, to grow in the lives of God's people. Pray with me as I embark upon this journey ...