I am preparing to spend a month in China with Miss Language. I have never prepared for a big trip, (except, of course, the Ultimate Journey).
I expected to have to buy a backpack, get a passport and visa, check on immunizations, make many lists, and get some lighter travel-friendly clothes and a new journal. Maybe even pick up a few phrases in Mandarin. But I did not expect a change in the way I feel about using porta-potties.
One of the things Miss Language has told me to prepare myself for is Asian toilets. These are not raised seats, just a hole over which you strategically squat. Paper is not provided, and when you use the paper you hopefully remembered to bring - you don't flush but put it in a trash can. And there is sometimes a dipper and bucket provided for flushing. Very not me.
And so, when I entered the porta-potty the other night at Mr Music's baseball game, and was met by The Well Known Odor and saw a lack of tissue, I was surprised to find myself thinking, not "I'm out of here", but "Oh, good, a chance to practice."
Which makes me wonder, of course, about the more spiritual applications of preparing for a Journey and seeing life in that light. As is so often the case, C S Lewis has something to point the way, from God in the Dock:
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II Corinthians 4:17 ~ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
I expected to have to buy a backpack, get a passport and visa, check on immunizations, make many lists, and get some lighter travel-friendly clothes and a new journal. Maybe even pick up a few phrases in Mandarin. But I did not expect a change in the way I feel about using porta-potties.
One of the things Miss Language has told me to prepare myself for is Asian toilets. These are not raised seats, just a hole over which you strategically squat. Paper is not provided, and when you use the paper you hopefully remembered to bring - you don't flush but put it in a trash can. And there is sometimes a dipper and bucket provided for flushing. Very not me.
And so, when I entered the porta-potty the other night at Mr Music's baseball game, and was met by The Well Known Odor and saw a lack of tissue, I was surprised to find myself thinking, not "I'm out of here", but "Oh, good, a chance to practice."
Which makes me wonder, of course, about the more spiritual applications of preparing for a Journey and seeing life in that light. As is so often the case, C S Lewis has something to point the way, from God in the Dock:
If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad.If I am willing to prepare for squatty potties, how much better to prepare for glory? What Well Known Odors and lacks should I be glad to welcome as needed practice?
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II Corinthians 4:17 ~ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
You're amazing, always finding something insightful to say--even when it's about potties!
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