A Bit of Time to reflect

It's eleven o'clock here on Sunday and I've just come away from chatting with my wonderful wife who I miss more and more as the days go by. I discovered that Blackberry messenger can be used while signed in to a wifi connection and had the wonderful privilege of hearing her voice as well as the voices (and in Shiloh's case sounds) of my other kids. We shared voice notes back and forth and laughed at hearing Titus in his two year old way, try to have a conversation with our recordings.
Being apart from those you love is both a difficult and blessed event. Difficult because you're apart from those who are most dear to your heart. A blessing because you are removed from the numbing effects of daily routine just enough to realize how much you really do love those who are closest to you. Things you take for granted like to cooing noises of a baby, the bright and cheery sound of a two year old's greeting, the endearing words of your daughter, or the loving sound of a spouse all cause your heart to remember its first loves.
While it was nice to hear the sounds of loved ones, it also came with its sadness in myself and Josiah. I think that the past few days have had an emotional toll on him and while hearing the voices of loved ones was good, it also brought up few other issues with it. Just after breakfast this morning I could tell Josiah was having a difficult time when one of the young people came up to him to give him a high five and he didn't return the gesture of friendship. I quickly took him into our room and asked him what was going on and I could tell that the heat combined with late nights were taking their toll when, with tears in his eyes, he told me that he was having a hard time because he couldn't understand the language, and that he thought that the kids were making fun of him. I had to explain to him that the kids here thought he was cool (after all they either called him Justin Beiber, or asked how he was related) and that when they were talking to him without understanding him that they laughed as a way to deal with the frustration they were feeling and not at him per se. Instead of getting angry and frustrated they laugh and giggle. The people here are very kind-hearted and happy so it isn't an illogical explanation. What I think was really going on though was a little home sickness. After a few minutes of discussion and some settling down we managed to gather ourselves together for the church service.
It made me wonder though, how many times in life do we have similar emotions? Perhaps we're going through an overwhelming situation where we don't understand what is happening and in our longing for the familiar misdirect our melancholy feelings on others whose intentions are farthest from our assessment of the situation. How many pep talks has the Father tried to give us to help us through the situation, and how many of us are really listening to what he is saying? As I journey on this faith walk with Josiah, I have to ask myself these questions. Am I really listening? Am I misplacing or misdirecting my emotions in areas that are not the cause. And so I look to the Father to help guide me through. Look for His pep talk or His insight when I can't tell the forrest from the trees. What I know for sure is that if I am interested in my own son's heart and can see what he's going through when he cannot, our heavenly Father sees and knows infinitely more than we do and is far more interested than we have the capacity to conceive.
Well I intended to write more detail about what we have done in the last couple of days but it seems that this blog has taken me elsewhere... probably the doing of the Father. Perhaps next time I'll talk about superkids and the amazing work that pastors Ding and Mona are doing here in Manila for the poorest and least of the city.