Tena tātou katoa e te iwi mīhana… (Greetings to all the people in mission)

This month’s whakataukī (proverb) is: “He maonga āwhā.”  (lit. a ripe or cooked storm, meaning a lull or calm after  the storm).

Unlike the English proverb, “calm before the storm”, the Māori version elicits considerably more hope. For Māori, a storm has its limits and we are encouraged to persevere through it. This is reminiscent of the Middle Eastern proverb sometimes attributed to King Solomon. When asked for a phrase that would hold true in both good times and bad, Solomon responded, “and this too shall pass”.

The stuff of this life is… impermanent.

I’m not sure when or where I first became aware of Solomon’s phrase, probably in a song lyric, but it has been with me a long time and and sums up my attitude to this life. Good or ill, the stuff of this life is… impermanent. We must ensure we invest ourselves into ‘things eternal’ – he tangata, he tangata, he tangata (3x, it is people).

The temporal nature of life hit home once more for me in January, with the sudden death of my step-father. He had many positive attributes, but for 47 years my mother lived in something of a tempest*. When I returned home to help arrange the funeral I found an eerie calm. I left the tempest behind at 16, not long after I stepped out of darkness into Jesus’ glorious light. In spite of doing a lot of ‘work’ on forgiveness and reconciliation as part of my discipleship road, it was never easy to return for visits, and I never stayed long.

For mum, the storm has passed and the strongest woman I will ever know can now invest her energies into things that delight her without negative repercussions.

At the beginning of February I had the immense privilege of sitting in on one of the Redcliffe College MA in Member Care classes, this year hosted by Eastwest College in Gordonton (in the Waikato region of Aotearoa New Zealand). I gleaned much from the day’s lecturers, both Kiwis. Karen Kemp of St John’s College taught on Conflict Resolution and John Fawcett of The Resilience Check-in (formerly of World Vision and Save the Children) unpacked Post Traumatic Growth. Both of them spoke of the transformative potential of hardship and the importance of healthy, close, and connected relationships to ensure that positive transformation develops.

Their contribution resonated with and added to my doctoral research on transformative growth through intercultural tension and the need for a commitment to covenant community to help that happen. In ministry and mission work there may not be many times of calm after storms, or we may have lived through so many we think the calm is merely preceding the next storm. Psychology may affirm that positive transformation can result from hardship, but I firmly believe we must learn to see God in the storms and accept that in the storm He is ‘training’ those He loves (cf. Prov. 3:12, Heb 12:6).

After all, ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28). So, as James 1:2-4 exhorts us, let us prepare, persevere and grow as we help one another #stayonmission. 👊🏼

Ma te Atua e manaaki koutou (may you all experience the very best things from God),

Jay

* I am not for a moment recommending anybody remain in abusive situations.