As I see it...Tine

As some of our followers have correctly noted, there has been some blogging "mania" over the last 6 weeks or so. And indeed dear reader this has been the case. I would like to provide a rationalization of this development and yes crew, I am launching into "analytical mode". Perhaps I should begin by quoting these two aphorisms: Number 1: "there is no time as productive as the last minute." And number 2: "if it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done". As a caveat I should note that I frame my remarks through the lens of my own experiences as Tinenenji (although I have an informed suspicion that my fellow volunteers share many of these thoughts). And before I venture any further, I would also like to pay tribute to Lena who kept the blog going while the four of us were too busy "being on the project". Lena, thank you for encouraging us to blog more. We should have listened.


Ok with that lengthy preamble out of the way, I shall proceed. During our orientation sessions in Cincinnati, we were informed that one of our obligations to the project was to maintain a blog. This requirement was mentioned in passing and had a "step-sister" status to the other "big" requirements like "stay close to God", "be a light", "serve diligently" etc. And yes, in light of these "weightier matters" the blog was quite appropriately a postscript. And yet it was still a requirement, just as the "less weighty" matters of the law are still requirements and should not be left undone.


I see my blogging tendencies as having gone through a dysfunctional lifecycle of at least 5 distinct stages. Stage 1: At the outset of the project, I was overwhelmed by the fact that almost "everything" (including our first trip to the grocery store, our first cab ride, and our first falafel sandwich) was blogworthy. I was in a sense – overwhelmed into inertia, so, I essentially did nothing. Stage 2: Over time as things levelled out and as I attained a level of normalcy in my life in Jordan, it seemed as though almost nothing was blogworthy - everything was routine and familiar. Stage 3: I became so incredibly busy with my project assignment; I literally did not have time to blog. Stage 4: Then came my slap in the face. All of a sudden it was March 27th, and in a state of panic, I penned “It’s Slipping Away”....my last blog having been almost 3 months earlier. Stage 5: In an attempt to salvage the situation, I began making some "last minute" amends.

I think there are some compelling spiritual parallels here. At stage 1: we can get so overwhelmed about everything we are “supposed to do” as Christians, that we end up doing nothing. This was the blunder of the servant in Mathew 25. He was so overwhelmed by the enormity of his assignment that he did nothing at all – paying with his life in the process. Even if we are not tripped up at stage 1, there is still danger at stage 2: As the excitement of our calling plateaus, there is the risk that what was once electrifying and energizing becomes ordinary and routine, and we lose that “awestruck” quality becoming lacklustre. But even if this is not the case, we are still in the danger zone, for there is always stage 3: Life can be so busy sometimes that the “cares of this life” prevent us from properly investing in the things that matter. Ironically, this “busyness’’ may even involve a disproportionate focus on certain aspects of our calling, to the detriment of other aspects of that same calling. Depending on the severity of the lapse of judgement in 1 -3, by the time we are subjected to the slap in the face at stage 4, our fate may already have been sealed and even if it is not yet so, our ability to mitigate the disaster at stage 5 may be severely limited. Stage 5 is of course the “last minute”. I realize that while a last minute methodology worked brilliantly for me in my academic career, I realize it will not work so well for me as a kingdom seeker, as there are some prerequisites to entry that cannot be accomplished at the last minute (as the 5 foolish virgins found out to their detriment).

Now, our project manager has been very happy with the blog and yes, the project has been a sterling success so I am not trying to “rain on our parade” by deriving such a serious lesson from a seemingly insignificant development. And yet I do think that there is a lesson (however tenuous). We decided as a group that we will bind the blog entries into a scrapbook as a keepsake. I know that my kids will be disappointed that their mother blogged least when it mattered most, and most when it mattered least, but then hopefully there will be lesson wrapped up in that for them