Maybe it's a slow wagon...

Alright, alright..I said I was all into this blogging thing...but I have found that ever since I returned home from a recent trip to Malawi this past summer, I don't enjoy sitting in front of computer screens that much anymore.

I can look back and see the countless number of hours I have spent on my laptop, in front of a tv, or busy texting someone on my cellphone... and it bothers me. It bothers me that that is how I chose to spend my time. I believe that time is a gift. We humans are not promised tomorrow on earth...so each moment that we get to spend on earth should be cherished, and counted as a blessing, and I think most importantly...used for good.

Is it possible to do good on all our fancy technological devices? Of course it is. Chances are, if I am thinking about someone and want to send them a quick encouragement, my immediate response would be to grab my purse and dig out my phone amongst all the junk in there and send the person a text. It's just another way we communicate now. But if I am going to be honest here, I could ask myself...'Allison, were you really doing good by staying up late watching the third season Grey's Anatomy online last night?' I can only answer 'no' to that question.

Spending two weeks in Malawi with very little communication to my friends and family back home allowed me to see life from a different perspective. It allowed me to see just the basics. The basics of pouring out love into people, and in return having love back into me. Lots and lots of love. A love that was not sent with a quick text, a love that was not passed on with a 'poke' over facebook, a love that was not communicated quickly during commercial breaks of my favourite tv show... no. It was a love from taking the time to teach a little boy how to make a paper airplane and decorate it with stickers. It was a love from spending time worshipping in God's presence with house mom's from an orphanage. It was a love from playing tag with a little girl who had been abandoned by her family just weeks ago. It was a love from children who very rarely are blessed with the opportunity to receive love.

That's what broke my heart during in Malawi. Not the sad stories of the orphaned children. Not the lack of food in their families. Not the lack of education. Not the social injustice. It was the love. The endless amounts of love that they poured into my life. I went there to share love, but somehow, I think I came home with more love than I could have possibly ever given to them.

All this to say, I see things differently now. I try to somehow, someway, share that incredible love with someone else. I try to spend  waste less time doing things that please me like browsing through the latest styles that dynamite has on sale, and cherish more time going out of my way, and out of my usual routine to make a difference in someones life.