Learning from Logistics

I finally bit the bullet and bought the $1800-something plane tickets a few days ago.
Frankly, I think this was what has been keeping me from moving forward and planning the other logistics of the trip. My heart was there, the desire, the inspiration to go to Uganda - but the money, now that is a different story. I think I understand a bit better the expression, "Put your money where your mouth is." It's easy to have grand ideas and plans, but unless the funds and logistics are there to carry them out, and the willingness to put them out there, they remain - simply ideas and plans.

More and more, I am learning the sobering lesson of what it means to carry out a vision or plan - even as it pertains to traveling and going to a new place like Uganda. There are shots to be had, things to be bought, contacts to be made and plane tickets to be purchased. These are the nitty-gritty details which come with executing any idea or plan, and it's a good thing to keep oneself grounded in the daily realities and costs of what one is undertaking to do...I suppose that is the lesson of life in general - anything worth undertaking or doing is going to cost something - money, time, energy, commitment, planning, yielding, patience, etc.

Interestingly, once the leap is made - the payment, the cost, the commitment - the resistance slowly gives way to something deeper - the commitment yields a greater and deeper desire and things start to move forward. It's funny how there is a kind of bump or initial barrier in the road that one must overcome before moving ahead. For me, it was buying the plane tickets. I still have residual fears, anxieties - should I have looked into other dates? Should I leave later, stay for a shorter amount of time? Should I have done more research before making the purchase? But I realize just the act of buying has pushed me forward a little bit. I feel a little freer and now more able to focus on the bigger picture.

My sister and her husband gave birth to a beautiful baby boy a number of weeks ago - and I learned then, as I am learning now, that anything creative, anything that brings forth life, ironically also requires us to lay down a bit of our own life - sacrifice - to make it work. I think understand better what Jesus meant when he said, "You must lose your life in order to find it." There is a loss that comes with gaining anything that is real, true and worthwhile - a loss that we may resist when the rubber hits the road, but a loss that over time yields far more 'fruit' and blessings than we can know otherwise.

Maybe God is trying to teach me something more about cost, loss and giving up these days. Interestingly, it's requiring something intangible but necessary in my own heart - trust, faith and hope.