Dear Diary: Feeling Settled

 Everyone keeps commenting that we look like we are "settling" in nicely.  Or people ask how we are settling in.  I feel like I don't know how to reply to this.


Yes, we have unpacked boxes and our home feels like a home finally.  Yes, we are in a rhythm of school and work.  Yes, our circle of comfort is slowly expanding.  Yes, we are making friends.  Does that make us settled?

I actually think we are finally experiencing the gravity of a big move.  We are settling, but there are parts of moving to a new city, a new church, and a new job that are challenging too.  We are past the initial honeymoon period and are feeing the weight of those challenges.  The excitement and hopefulness is still there, but it is somewhat tempered with the some realistic awareness.

Two months in... the seeds fall slowly.

Yet I was encouraged this weekend by some visiting missionaries, speaking of their team working in north Africa.  The mission doesn't always feel grand.  It starts with small seeds of faithfulness.

When I was a young and passionate youth, I felt a call from God to be a missionary... but not overseas. I felt a distinct call to minister in Canada.  This was the reason I went to Bible College, initially.  Not everyone knows that about me.  This move, feels like a fulfilment of that dream that God placed in my heart. So this weekend, I choose to reflect on those small things, which really are part of the larger plan.

We are making friends.  The kids have made friends at school.  We have invited people into our home, and have shared life.  We have started the roots of friendship.

We are becoming familiar with our church family.  We see the potential, but change doesn't happen overnight.  We are getting used to each other.  We are envisioning the future.  We are building repoire and gathering people onto the mission along with us.

We are establishing our rhythms of life and making space for prayer, for outreach, and for rest.  This is why it was vital for me to set up the space in our home as a first priority.

We are on mission together, as a family.  When our kids ask why we moved to Calgary, we talk about sharing Jesus with those who don't know Him.  We have invited their friends into our home with the intention of showing God's love.

We are doing what we can to adapt to and understand our culture, both within the church and without (which are both distinctly different from each other at times, and also different from where we came from).  We are observing, participating, getting to know, and finding our place.

When I sit down and reflect, it doesn't look that "small" for a mere 8 weeks.  It feels intentional.  It feels natural.  I guess, in a way, it feels settled.