Reflecting with people we respect can help provide perspective.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2 English Standard Version

It had been a long day back in March of 2014. Some of us from our Honduras mission team spent the morning and afternoon with children in Lepaterique, others spent time on the road visiting two small villages. Whether we were on the road or hanging with children, by the evening we were tired.

Lepaterique, Honduras
Copyright Douglas P Brauner

We still had work to do as we looked to the next day when we’d spend time with other children in other villages. We had to assemble these toy cars for the children.

There wasn’t much to this task. You pass a screw through a wooden wheel, washer, body, another washer and another wheel. Finally you hand tightened a screw. Not difficult, right?

When you’re tire even the simplest tasks are difficult. We were exhausted, a long day awaited us, and we still needed time for reflection.

It was this time of reflection that saved the day.

Wanting nothing more than to go to bed, we gathered around a table in a corner room at Betesda. In the midst of our exhaustion we were challenged to identify with someone we had met in Lepaterique, someone who had touched our lives.

We started our conversation with the words, “Hello, my name is…” and then we told that person’s story. There was laughter and there were tears. Our strength was renewed.

Our exhaustion was nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in Lepaterique were enduring: A young man tried to make sense of his life after his mother had abandoned him, a family of four endured a long motorcycle ride to a remote community to proclaim Christ, a man worries that his dreams of going to the university might not happen if he cannot find his high school transcripts.

Reflection often puts our lives into proper perspective.

Copyright Douglas P Brauner