Waiting for My Soul to Catch Up

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
Psalm 42:7

Jet lag is an odd sort of place to be. It's almost as if your body, mind and soul travel in different dimensions of time.

Your body gets home first, along with your luggage. And it's your body that has the first hot water shower and scrubs the red dirt stains off the bottom of your feet and starts the laundry and has a first non rice meal. And to be real honest, it's your body that kisses your husband hello and receives the enthusiastic hugs of grandchildren.

I think maybe your mind arrives a day or so later. Starts to answer a few emails, checks in with co-workers about items needing attention, puts your purse back together and gathers the papers you'll need to take into the office for 'just the morning' (I promise) tomorrow. It's your mind that responds to requests for reconnection with friends for coffee or a phone call. It's your mind that writes a blog.

But your soul? I'm honestly not sure exactly when my soul even leaves Thailand. Or if it's not still there right now, sitting quietly with Nut, letting the excruciating beauty of the waterfall wash over the deep that calls to Deep.

This sensation, of waiting for a while until my soul is ready to leave the intense and exotic spirituality of Thailand, and rejoin my abundant and satisfying life in Canada, is exaggerated this year. We went as a Team of 11, and with a significant task to accomplish in Day Camp. I celebrate with huge joy the work God has done in us, and the ways in which He was evident throughout the camp time. But the leadership and pastoral requirements were the priority, and my soul was respectfully but most definitely asked to wait its turn. Perhaps as we gain more experience in bigger team/task focused trips I will learn ways to inject my own soul time into the mix. But not this trip.

So if I seem vacant in the next few days, I am. Please forgive me, it's nothing personal. It's just me, waiting for my soul to get home.

My thanks to Megan Ogilvie for these incredible photos.