Frangipanis and Cats

Frangipanis in bloom

This week our team had a local teacher training at a small boutique hotel. The hotel had beautiful flowers everywhere! There were even fresh flowers on my bed and the towels. The smells and sites were amazing! And there were a couple of cats. The cats roamed around the lobby. Everyone loved it, BUT for those of you who know me I am very allergic to pollen and cats. By the end of the first night I had a bad headache.

Cat waiting for me in the lobby

At first my reaction was frustration. Why did our team use a place with flowers and cats? Why did the hotel use so many flowers? And cats? It wasn’t working for me. I began to think what people of today might do. They would definitely complain to their team. They would probably post a nasty TripAdvisor hotel review warning everyone to stay away. Some might even demand to be moved somewhere else. The goal would be for the hotel to change to suit me.

Flowers everywhere!

Then I started looking around. The local teachers with us and all the guests of the hotel were taking photos of the flowers. They were sitting in the lobby just petting the cats and enjoying a quiet, cuddly moment. The explosion of colors was stimulating and invigorating. Great place to get the creative juices flowing for a training.

The problem wasn’t the hotel, it was the focus on me. If I demand the world change to suit me then what does that do to the world?

I was reminded of what the Apostle Paul says “Love does not insist on it’s own way”.   “…in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Teacher learning math games

In our culture today if everyone keeps demanding their own way, we’ll soon have a cold colorless world.  Other’s advocate for a world without boundaries to avoid that. In both cases the focus would be based on ME (the individual) and what I want and feel.  Biblical standards provide a higher standard for us than our personal feelings.

Graduation

After all the purpose this week was to help local teachers be better teachers and reward them in some small way for the very difficult job they do in rural villages. My purpose was to give and learn too. So I took an antihistamine, was a little groggy for a couple of days, but had a great, fulfilling time in a beautiful place.  As cross-cultural, workers Tricia, the boys and I are constantly challenged to lay down our own personal comforts for the sake of others. I’m wondering if there is a lesson in this for today’s culture. If we don’t stop demanding our own way I’m afraid we’ll soon face a very cold, colorless, cookie-cutter world, or one of utter chaosJ

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