How are we doing? The messiah complex…
Yes, exciting question… how are we doing? Honestly, hard to describe. Let’s start with: yes, it’s going very well. So, that’s out. And now a little more in detail.
By the time you read this, we will have been away from the Netherlands for 202 days. All in all, more than half a year and it’s going fast.
Every week we say it to each other again, it’s going so fast, so fast that we can hardly keep up.
Every week we see lives change (for the better), every week…. And yes, it is hard work, but how beautiful to see!
But it is hard work. It doesn’t just come to us, quite the contrary. Yes, it’s a great thing to do, but it’s hard work. Every day. Mhhh… how shall we try to explain that? Let’s face it, humanly speaking, you have to be pretty insane to start / do this kind of adventure. Every day, day after day.
And humanly speaking, we wouldn’t advise anyone to do this. Don’t do it. It really costs you everything. So if we would listen to our human voice, we would often sit on the couch and cry. No energy left, so much misery around, there is no end to it. And yes, that is sometimes really difficult to deal with.
But we do it anyway… and not with 80% effort, but with 110%. Let’s try to explain it with this text: (and if you don’t like the bible, read it anyway, you’ll understand why)
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24
If we had only done it for the people (however it’s a good goal), it would be unsustainable. Too heavy, too hard. So, somewhere, you need something more to do this and to persevere. Without that something, we would have given up long ago. And that something is “our dear Lord” and He gives energy for tomorrow.
Yes, we’d love to save everyone and give them a better future, we’ll do anything (literally) for it, but no matter how hard we work… we’ll never make it.
By the way, are you familiar with the Messiah complex?
A state of mind in which an individual believes that they(!) are solely responsible for saving or assisting others.
And yes, we understand that people (in our branch of sport) sometimes get completely stuck in that. We also see that messiah complex on this side with others……ai.
Yes, we believe we have to do this work, and we also believe we have to help as many people as possible (just like everyone else, for that matter), but that ultimate(!) responsibility to save everyone… it doesn’t lie with us. And therein lies the difference….
So yes, we do everything we can, but the bottom line is…. It isn’t our ultimate responsibility who we can or can’t help, who gets through… or not. That’s God’s “problem” so to say. We take on what comes our way with both hands, and sometimes we don’t because there really is a limit to our capabilities. And that’s okay because we know that what we can do is a little piece of what God is doing. It gives peace of mind that everything is in God’s hand and that we do not bear the ultimate responsibility to save or help others.
So, how are we doing? (sometimes very) Tired, but satisfied. And we’re glad it’s not our ultimate responsibility, and we don’t have to work 24 hours a day. To keep the balance between work and rest is a challenge, every day, but oh what a beautiful job it is, to see the results, but also to have the freedom that you (and I) are not responsible for the end result. Because otherwise… we would drive nuts…
So, now on to the next job, preparing the website for someone else, a therapy session is running in the other room, planning a trip to NL, preparing a session for this weekend, and it’s M’s birthday! Are you celebrating it with us?
