Begin at the Beginning

When I was nine, I emphatically told my mother that when I grew up,  I was going to be a missionary. In Africa.

She, full of her infinite wisdom and love, told me,

"You can't even get along with your siblings. Until you can learn to love them, you're not going to be any good at loving African Orphans either."

Talk about a shot to the heart of my nine-year-old dreams.

But my mom's point was this:

Being who you're called to be in Christ starts in your daily life; growing up to be a missionary means being a missionary while you're washing the dishes and helping your little brother button his shirt after he spilled his juice all over the drawing you spent your whole afternoon on; living your life as a Christian means doing the hard, daily stuff just as much as going on highly romantic and oh-so-dangerous treks through the African jungles.

She had a point - a very good one. Probably why it was a shot to the heart that made such a long-lasting impression.

Even at nine, I believed she was right. But I also believed that - one day in the distant future when I had attained to this status of "grown up" - I would spend my days on the foreign mission field. So, I took it upon myself to learn to love my siblings, and to try to do my chores with a Christlike attitude.

Turns out, I'm what most people deem an adult: I have a college degree, work a job, pay bills and generally go to bed at a responsible hour, making plans for the day ahead. It also turns out that I do not live in Africa, or anywhere else even close to foreign. I live in a normal, United States city, where people do normal, United States things - and where everyone around me mostly speaks English, much to my chagrin.

But what my mom taught me when I was nine has stuck with me, and every day, I get up and I think about my little mission field called Daily Life - La Vida Cotidiana as we say in Spanish - and realize that God has things that He's teaching me, ways that He's challenging my boxes, calls that He's giving me to step out in faith, and purposes that He's established as ways to bring Himself glory through my life.

One day, I still want to be on the foreign mission field - living my daily life wearing the lenses of another culture and speaking another language.

But until then, I'm here - looking to fulfill the mission that I have right now and learn the lessons that God has for me at this stage of my life.

This blog is my way of sharing my journey - in hopes that maybe you'll see that all of us have a mission, because, well, God puts us exactly where we are for a reason.