I have no earthly idea what today is

 

And there was evening, and there was morning —the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:13-15

 Don't ask me what day it is because I don't have an answer for you.



Don't ask me what time it is or what month it is.  I just don't know.

I left America to be a missionary in Ntshongweni, South Africa on September 1, 2011.  That was the last time I had any concept of time.

                                      
I'm  coming to believe that my perception of time is based on external factors.Halloween, was on Monday, October 31 and it came and went without any candy or cute costumed children knocking at my door.  On this day I drove friend Grace Rao to the Jo'burg airport for her return flight to America all without one person telling me, 'Trick or Treat.'

 

That without the physical clues of hour, day, week, month, season, even year; I am lost.

Thanksgiving was of course on Thursday, November 24th.  Where was I on this great day of feasting with family and friends?  Happily participating in the graduation ceremony at the Lutheran Seminary in Pretoria.  It was a special and beautiful day, but it was a day nonetheless which did not help me realize that it was the end of the month of November.

May I just add that with my new home in the Southern Hemisphere, I am living the opposite season that the first 52 years of my life.  So now it's the Advent season, but without Wednesday services and instead of it being Winter; it's late Spring/early Summer.

It's Christmas time without wearing a jacket or seeing Christmas tree lots or lights or any other American commercialism of this sacred holiday.  The Zulu people live beautiful modest lives and gift giving isn't the focus of the Christmas celebration.  Missionaries live on modest stipends and thus gifts aren't the focus of the Christmas celebration. No gifts, no trees, no lights, no candy canes.

I wanted Candy Canes and asked for some to be brought to South Africa from America, but they arrived in January and by then I wasn't interested.  I have to have Candy Canes in DECEMBER or my internal clock is all screwed up.

I enjoyed a lovely Christmas with five other missionaries on the Indian Ocean beach - in the summer, but it just didn't 'feel' like Christmas.

New Years Eve I spent alone in Katelyn Hiett's flat, so without my night being anything special it's hard to believe that it's a new year.  Welcome to 2012.

My months rolls on without me ever realizing that it's nearing the end of the month and my reports and newsletter are due.  It is only but staring at the wall calendar do I know to do my jobs.

My Valentines day was spent traveling back to Hillcrest from a missionary retreat.  My birthday was one of the hottest days on the year: February 27th!  Now, I grew up in southern California, lived in Dallas, Tulsa and Pensacola, Florida so it's not like I'm use to cold February birthdays... but come on frying on my birthday was a bit much.

When it was Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it was beautiful Autumn here accompanied by the falling of leaves and a crispness to the air.

Easter was probably the most difficult of all to wrap my head around.  Being a profession church worker, Lent and then the mad rush of Holy Week leaves me exhausted by the Holy Resurrection of Our Lord on Sunday.  Not this year.  I enjoyed a lovely worship service in Zulu and then a pleasant day traveling to Pretoria for a friends graduation from the University of Pretoria.  Way to go Peter!

No Red, White and Blue for this girl and thus nothing to gage me into the reality that the month is indeed July.

As a Director of Christian Education I prided myself on the attention I gave those in my youth group and geared my ministry around the school year.  The American school year which happens to begin in August.  I can see on facebook all the chatter about everyone going 'back to school' but my heart doesn't believe a word of it.  There is no way in the universe that it's the beginning of the month of September.

I'm so disorientated.  I was actually shocked that I realized that my mother's 85th birthday is in a couple of weeks.  I never know what month I'm in.

Ecclesiastes 3

 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.