Saturday, March 23, 2013

Wilson Man Land...and what comes next

Most of my time in Guatemala was spent around children, well actually it was mostly in the close company of boys. Word on the street, or in this case the dirt road, was that the three tall white men were my family. Matt, Jacob and Seth were pretty easy to pick out when we were at the village, or anyplace else for that matter. And the word "mama" is understood in every language.

The village boys and I laughed together and walked together. They would shake my hand, hold my hand and in general be right next to me. Which was a bit unusual in light of the fact that the other three women in our group were almost constantly surrounded by girls. They would hold hands, laugh, and in general communicate.  But I live in a special little place that I call "Wilson Man Land" so for me this was just "same song, second verse, but not sung in English".

If you know me at all, you know how much I love being a mom. Can't imagine life without the Wilson Men.  Life with daughters would have been different, but this life I have is GREAT. Please don't misunderstand, I do not lack the experience of life with estrogen. There are some amazing girls and young women in my life. I love them. I treasure them. I learn from them every day. Being "Aunt Trisha" is great ~ and I am thankful that God has brought these ladies into this season of my life. Girls are fun, but boy land is where I have lived for almost 20 years. It is comfortable. It is familiar. I like it.

There were many occasions I watched as my young men were the active hands and fee of Jesus. They are not afraid of hard work, or getting their hands dirty. They understand that some things just need to get done and there will never be a "thank you." I know that God used international missions to shape my heart and life view, and it is cool to see my sons begin to view their world and the world in general from a different perspective. Some of my biggest smiles came from "non ministry" moments ~ not moving dirt or tamping floors, just in the moment life stuff.  One of my favorite memories was watching my son's "teach" the village boys to randomly move their Adams Apple as we waited for service to start one evening. There was a good bit of soccer, and some tossing around of the hacky sacks. During the middle of the praise and testimony service on Wednesday night, a few of the younger boys (probably 7 or 8 years old) tried to scare the teenagers with the timely introduction of a HUGE bug. The teens didn't scream and I didn't laugh ~ at least not on the outside ~ and the service was not interrupted. Praise God!

But then something unexpected happened. Her name is Addiella. She is cute. She is small. Small like dynamite. This special girl decided we would be friends; no stinky boy would come between us, and she quickly handled any that would try. Addiella has a great family, brothers and sisters that drive her crazy, and the chance to go to school every day and now church every week. Addiella has a mom that loves her, and her mom loves Jesus too. Yet she determined that for this week, her life and mine would be joined. Not to meet any specific need, but purely for the enrichment of each others company.

And thus began the next lesson.
It started with some advice from Peter;

         "love one another deeply".

Someday Wilson Land will become Wilson World.
My sons will get married and start families of their own. I will meet and begin to do life with the daughters I have prayed over without ceasing since they day each of my sons were born.  God's plan in God's time will be revealed. My world will change. It might be scary and it may even hurt. But God will be there, just like He is here. As God stretches my world, He is stretching my capacity to love. It'll be good. I'm gonna listen to my friend Paul and remember what I learned from Addiella.



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