Set your target and aim there!

Ah yes, the delightful pun of these cryptic words painted on an outhouse at a very rural school near Choma, Zambia.

Set your target: Too often we drift through life without anywhere particular in mind, except to ensure our own well-being. Sometimes we get there and sometimes we don't. Is it a wonder? How does the saying go? "You get where you've always got because you do what you've always done."

These grade 4 children understood the importance of having a clear direction in life so one could create a plan to get there. This resonated with my thoughts in recent months as I try to understand what God has called us to do and be in southern Africa. Our presence is surely more than giving direction to and reporting on MCC projects - no matter how good and effective they are.

Walking in solidarity with those on the edge, being blessed by others way of thinking, seeing God in new ways, finding redemption in the midst of pain and suffering - to what does this lead us?  What is our target? Might it be transformation? Somehow I have the uneasy feeling that is indeed our target.  Transformation to what however is the question? It is not about being more religious or more pious or a better humanitarian or some something equally boring like that.

John Ortberg in his book 'The Life You've Always Wanted' talks about 'morphing' into the likeness of Christ. The primary goal of life he notes is human transformation - metamorphosis. Like that of the creeping caterpillar being transformed into a soaring butterfly - only much more dramatic. This transformation has to do with reclaiming the brokenness and pain around us and morphing it into hope and restoration and joy. Our transformation however is not about us  and our personal journey - it has a purpose. As Henri Nouwen says: 

“We are not the healers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.  The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God...”

It would appear that we have to 'aim' in some altogether different directions to move towards this target. Somehow we need to turn aside and see what is happening all around us - to stop and pay attention to the great movment of the kingdom and find a new focus. Elizabeth Barrett Browning has these words for us:
 Earth's crammed with Heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes-
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.