Unforced Rhythms of Grace...a continuation

June was full of travel, teaching responsibilities and reflection - all departures from our routine.

July started off with a lot of unexpected, and some expected, company - which seriously altered daily routines (if one could say there was any daily routine after being away for most of the previous month!).

It has settled down a bit in the latter part of July:

• Janis resumed her art lessons with the young dyslexic teen (by the way - Disney recently purchased the rights to Taare Zameen Per, the Bollywood movie that inspired the parents of this girl to approach Janis to begin art lessons. So it may be released soon in the US. See it if you can!).
• Chuck began a 10 hour, two-part series for interns of Touch India Foundation and Kingdom International on tools for reading the Bible.
• We've also been deliberating on the results of last month's reflections in preparation for next month's de-brief on our first year in India and planning for the next year.

As we reflected on the past year, we realized one of our greatest challenges, while living and working across cultures, has been "learning the unforced rhythms of grace." For us, it often seems easier and more natural to try to force an issue to "make things happen." We've been learning how counter-productive that has proved to be for us in this setting.

We yearn to recognize and live more and more in the unforced rhythms of...

• simply walking along a street navigating the holes, rocks, bricks and various other construction materials, garbage, animal dung, people, dogs, and occasionally monkeys, street vendors, bodies (hopefully sleeping, but there are times you really don't know), bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, buses, trucks, tractors, cars, and everything else that shares the road;
• crossing a street and timing one's crossing to fit the flow of all those varying users of it;
• time - learning when an appointment is meant to be exactly at an agreed upon time, and when it is meant to begin when it begins;
• commitments - learning when someone is being polite, but has absolutely no intention of keeping a commitment, and when someone has made a commitment that cannot be shaken regardless of circumstances, events or any other forces at work;
• weather and it's impact on so many areas of life, especially in an area of rapid and extreme variations - monsoons, blistering heat both dry and highly humid, bitter cold, wind, duststorms, etc. - all have impact on what takes place in life, and what doesn't take place, and all have a significant impact on health;
• electricity, water and other utility shortages or outages - we're learning: keep the laptop and mobile phones charged, if we wait until they're low, there might not be any electricity to re-charge them; we've become adept at a 2-cup (or less) shower; high-speed internet works somewhat reliably in the early morning, after that, good luck!