Mysterious as the dark side of the moon…

So I am coming up on my third week in Australia, it is crazy how fast it seems to be going, but encouraging to know that I still have a good amount of time left. These past few weeks I have done a lot of thinking and I think I have learned a lot.

Last week I went to a Compassion event/concert (compassion.org) and heard some great music (holy cow, Melissa and the Ottos are so great) and a passionate message about sponsoring a child from one of the 20 countries that Compassion serves. It truly was an inspiring night and I felt the urgency to find a child of my own to sponsor monthly. With these kind of events I can tend to be sort of a cynic and see through the speakers words of just trying to guilt trip everyone into giving money for their own later praise. But tonight was slightly different, I felt the cynicism creaping through my mind but it was forced out by something stronger. I haven’t quite put my finger on what the exact difference was (beside being the holy spirit, but I like to think the HS works in ways to teach us something)but it was enough for me to know that I had no choice on whether or not to sponsor a child. Despite my hold on what I think is mine, my anxious, eagerness to be so tight fisted with my money, when it is not mine to own, all stood no chance against this conviction.  So the event was beautiful and I am so thankful that I was able to be apart of it. Oh and the best part is I now sponsor a girl from Rwanda named Uwineza and the thought that I get to be a part of her life brings joy and purpose onto mine.

If my experience thus far had a theme I feel it would be the theme of development. Since I have been here I have attended a world poverty seminar in Brisbane, a catalyst meeting where people advocate for ending human trafficking and slave labor  by putting pressure on major corporations to prove their fair labor policies, the mentioned above compassion event, signed up for tutoring high school refugee girls, watched bits and pieces of Slumdog Millionaire, and am in the process of reading a book called Not For Sale.

In the book it goes through different parts of the world where people are still being forced into acts of slavery. The book is very intriguing and devastating, on the back cover an author declares that every american should read this book, and I agree completely. There are people still being forced into slavery, it did not end in 1800s, even in America people are still locked into slavery chains. We live in a dark world. Once I finish the book I intend to elaborate more on my findings…

So why did I name this post “mysterious as the dark side of the moon”? Well I haven’t quite figured that out yet, when I decided to start writing this blog this morning I had that song stuck in my head… But I have been thinking about moons lately, (the sky in Australia is brilliant at night) and I always silently wonder what is going on, on the side of the moon not facing toward the sun. Now there are numerous metaphors regarding light, moons, sun/son and such but those are not the ones I am leaning toward. Basically Mulan rocks enough said! But… it is interesting to ponder how when we look at the moon, “our orbiting companion” we never see the whole thing our idea of a full moon is still only half. When I was little I used to think the moon was a giant pringle… But besides the moon being a snack food perhaps this can relate to something with more depth… Perhaps it resembles  our interactions with people by the way we only see half of them. We are only able to communicate with what they choose to utter from their mouths not their inner dialogue. We think we fully know someone but we don’t know their inner thoughts. Thank the Lord my inner thoughts are private, if so I would most likely not have any friends… Sometimes I feel that my inner clashes with what I choose to escape my mouth. in both bad and good ways… Also as a people pleaser I am always working hard to win the favor of both the full and hidden side of a person, how exhausting and a waste of time. Good thing grace covers everything and is sufficient and I serve a wonderful God whose love is unfathomable and is on my side and knows my every need  the end.

P.S. I know that was sort of a stretch and not fully “developed” haha I’m still in the works… Again basically Mulan rocks!