10/12/2026
Good Morning's Teatime 💛☕️💛
A friend once told me about a group of missionaries that traveled to Alaska to convert the natives there. They stayed months feeding, schooling, clothing, preaching....and when Winter came, they left.
This says it all. I don't know what it means for life of those indigenous people in Alaska. Yet if I am to care about any group of people, I must befriend them and learn of their ways. I do know that to be a friend, one must not leave when it gets uncomfortable or inconvenient. Thou mayest share your life with them and learn of theirs. It is a choice that makes all the difference for both them and yourself.
Years ago, I met a recently widowed woman through a mutual friend who encouraged me to visit her for coffee. This beautiful soul had lost her husband unexpectedly during the pandemic due to an agressive illness. She and her adult daughter were new to our area before her husband passed. The pandemic isolated them further in griefstricken lockdown.
That day as I sat with her at her table learning her story of sadness, bravery, and even hope, I simply listened. I entered her world, even though I knew nothing about a sick or dying husband. Yet I was deeply moved to empathize what it would mean to lose my own husband and deeply cared about her situation. She and I became fast friends, sharing many common interests of our faith and hobbies. Today, she is one of my dearest friends, who has faithfully walked alongside me in the recent loss of both my son and husband. This precious friendship is indeed a gift from God as heaven knew I would have need of her to hold both my hand and my heart.
This is what it means to me to be "missionally"minded. We must choose to enter cultures, friendships, communities and shine like the Son, not subtracting or diminish them due to differences. You may very well discover that you and they may need one another more than you can ever imagine.
To love thy neighbor has more weight than gold. Thou mayest...💛
xoxoxo ~ Ginger
