Blurred lines...when is it work and when does it become play?

“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play”.  Arnold Toynbee

What a great quote to start this blog post.  It used to be, back during my days in the Central African Republic working among the Fulani cattle herders of that land, that my colleague Karen and I would be having so much fun with the women and children in the remote nomadic places that the Fulani would temporarily set up as their home.  We often had to find them between seasons and in places that were off the beaten track.  For example, in the dry season, only the older women and young moms who were nursing their babies, along with the young children, would be left in the village while the men and older boys would be out in the bush looking for more grassy pastureland for their cattle.  Anyway, many a moment happened in life and ministry when Karen and I would look at each other and say “and there are people back home who are praying for us, loving us through their financial support and we’re out here having so much fun!”  Okay, now granted, not all days were fun….rainy days when you’re living in a grass thatched roof hut with no windows can be a challenge, and some days we just wanted a cold beverage and a flush toilet!  Yet I love this thought about blurring the line between work and play.

The early years of blurred lines....

How much fun is this??!!!

Worked hard with this boy and his mom to get him on his feet again ~

It was always work and play with our language helpers!
This is where I really learned to laugh at myself when speaking another language.

You really need to see the size of the "stool" that they gave me to sit on ~
it worked for her little 8 year old self but for me....it was quite a different story!

Perhaps one of my all time favorite Fulani village photos ~
make sure you appreciate the wings on Steve's tee-shirt.

Loved hanging out with this dear Fulani soul and to hear how God
had protected her during a fire that brought much pain to her body.

What a team ~ the laughter that we shared with this woman
will only be shared again in heaven!

And this blurred line is being revisited in my ministry setting here in Belgium in recent weeks.  There are so many days when I say “God, I love this land.  I love her people.  I can even sometimes love this language!”  That was my quote in church last Sunday when we were singing the song “There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb”.  We had sung the same song just recently during our kids’ Vacation Bible School in August, but it went like this:  “er is kracht, kracht, wonderbaar kracht in het bloed van het Lamb, in het kostbaar bloed van het Lamb”.  I felt a little foolish, singing that last line by myself in Flemish as the worship team finished the song on Sunday.  And then I blurted out “oh how I love this language”.  It’s only taken 10 years to get to this point!

God is accomplishing a good work in my heart, as I continue to make this land my “home” land, this language my “home” language, this people my “home” people.  The line is blurring between work and play ~ and I’m loving it!