Perspective on Albania

Joy is found in life not through achieving things, gaining possessions, or being great. Rather, I would say joy comes when your perspective lifts from yourself to God and to others. So, the following photos are from Albania-each is just a point of view- altered or completely natural...that's for you to decide!

Where's your perspective today?

Is it on the trash that's in your life?

How about on the journey you've been walking- mistakes or
grand achievements from the past?

On those in need around you?

On your future- where you're going to go
and how you're going to get there?

The long, dirty road you're on and
the hardships that it contains?

Or is it on the everlasting splendor of our great God and King?
LOOK UP AND BEHOLD!

Death and Dying

These past months I’ve thought quite a bit about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Perhaps this may seem a bit strange to be dwelling upon, or perhaps you don’t have a clue what that is. Let me explain a bit. Being a Psych major, I studied a lot of theories and formulas that humans have created to understand our time on this planet and people in general. Most of it seems a bit strange or weird, but taken with a bit of wisdom, it can be beneficial. I am finding this in regards to our friend, Maslow.

The pyramid that this man created basically states that on the ground level humans are all the same: we eat, sleep, drink, and take care of our basic needs. Once these are met, we can move on to the next level, that of security. Following are love, achievements, confidence, creativity, etc. The goal of the human race is to reach the top of the pyramid, what he calls “self-actualization.” This top rung is only reached when the bottoms ones are achieved. So, what in the world does this have to do with anything?

Having moved to Kosova 2 years ago, I found myself on the nearly the bottom level. “Don’t drink the water here.” “This is how you use this toilet…(not a demo).” “You have to buy your bread here, your meat here, your veggies here, and you can’t cook with the electricity, and most likely the power will go off so learn to cook with candle light”…and millions of other things. I found myself barely functioning. You feel so much like a helpless baby who can’t even do the simplest things for themselves- like communicate, for instance.

The longer I’ve been in Kosova, the more progress I’ve made in climbing levels on the pyramid. But every few weeks I feel I’ve regressed down to the bottom again. I meet someone in the store who speaks another dialect of the words I’ve already learned 2 different ways, and I leave feeling helpless. Someone I’ve gotten close to leaves (this happens every 6 months here). So much of what you’ve been investing your time into flops or is scratched cuz it wasn’t successful. And you find yourself paralyzed. You wonder if it’s worth it. Always in the back of your mind is this thought: if I left here and went back to The States I could take care of my health and body a lot better, I could spend more time studying the Word and growing, I would be able to have friends- real ones that don’t leave after 6 months, and the list goes on. This desire to be creative, to take care of yourself, to be all that you can become…to self actualize is strong. And it’s frustrating to know you’re creative, to know you are capable of taking care of your health, to know who you once were and now aren’t and can’t be any longer.

In some ways I don’t miss who I once was. I realize that who I am now and what I’ve gained is worth far more than what I could have become had I stayed in America. But some days it feels overwhelming; like something died and I should be mourning. And truly it is that! Jesus said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” And again, “Take up your cross daily and follow Me.” It is a death and should be treated as such. But it is a good sort of death. Sort of like when we attend a funeral for a believer- we mourn the loss, but also rejoice in the greater blessing.

So, that’s where I find myself today- dead and trying to rejoice in that. I can’t lie it is harder than I can bear each day. Praise the One who supplies all grace and strength needed to hold up and walk onward!