One of the difficult things about living on a Caribbean island is that people not only come, but also go. We really enjoy that we can regularly welcome new guests to Aruba. Sometimes they stay for a few days, sometimes for a few weeks and occasionally for a few months to a year. But few people stick around longer. Fortunately, in this regular chaos of coming and going, it is wonderful to be able to discover again and again that the seeds that people plant here remain when they leave.
For example, there was a student here who, during her outreach for the Discipleship Training School, came with me on the van to deliver food to the families. When we arrived at the door of one of the families, the eldest daughter of the family told this student that she was beautiful. The student thanked her and told this girl that she actually thought that she was beautiful. The girl visibly felt blessed with this compliment, and since then I notice that she makes more of an effort to take good care of herself. How nice to see that one compliment from a complete stranger can have such a big positive effect.
Yet, the effects are sometimes not immediately visible. Friends of ours have invested a lot in Aruban society. They have contributed in every possible way to various church communities, their work, and the volunteer work that they did. Despite their passionate efforts, they saw only a small effect over time. So much so that they finally decided to leave Aruba. For them it was a tough conclusion with major consequences, and for us it was also another tough farewell.
In such a situation the question automatically arises: does it make sense to continually commit yourself to building relationships with all those people? If everyone leaves again, what is the value of this investment? The only thing that seems to be left after another farewell is loss. But today I realized something. If I always focus on what is visible to me, is my attention really focused on the people I am dealing with? Or am I busy with the results I think I need? I think I know the answer. The great thing about saying goodbye is that apparently something has grown that is worth saying goodbye to. And so, more has been planted than I can see and I need to realize that God owns the harvest.