Context

I know that it's been forever since I posted, and I do apologize. You can thank a trip to the States and some great time with family and friends for a lack of interneting. (Yes I did just make that word up, and yes, I do think that it should be an actual word.) The same people who use internet slang in conversation (yes, I admit I'm guilty) could start working in "to internet." I personally think it's a great idea.

ANYWAY, I was explaining to a friend the other day that I actually think about blog posts all the time. As I've had plenty of airplane rides, airport waits, and good conversations with friends lately, I've had an abundance of ideas. I'll start with this...

I've been thinking about context a lot lately. Not literary context, as in where the plot is set, or even the context of a conversation, but the contexts that we live in. After going to college a few states away from home, studying abroad, and now living in Mexico, I've come to realize how much context matters in our lives (and somehow I feel that I've only scratched the surface of the matter). Particularly, I've been thinking about how we grow (or simply change) in a new context without even realizing it. Then, when we return to the "mother" context (i.e. where you grew up or even returning to the culture of your family) we actually see the growth.

In scientific terms (I know, I'm stepping out on a limb here since I haven't had a science class in quite some time, but I think it does help to explain what I'm talking about), the context of our lives can be thought of in terms of controlled groups and experimental groups. In my case, the controlled group would be my home-town culture. That is, my family, my friends, my church, and general Spartanburg, South Carolina culture. Although it does change, the change is much slower than the rate that I change at as I experience another culture. The experimental group of my "life experiment" would be moving to another location (although, as far as I'm concerned it could be a change as small as changing from one group of friends to another). The outcome of the experiment (a.k.a. the data that we note) is then the change in personality, emotion, will, etc. that develops in the individual because of a change in outer circumstances to said experimental group. Only because the controlled group remains constant (or at least virtually constant) can the end result be monitored.

Now, seeing as I am no scientist, it is very possible that there are errors in my whole "life experiment," (especially in terminology) but the point is that we are constantly changing, especially as we move to another culture or life situation, and the changes are best observed when we are plopped back into our mother culture.

To make this more personal (after all, that is what this blog is for, to express personal thoughts), I often feel like I am not growing spiritually, emotionally, and in maturity until I return home and see the contrast of my new growth with my former home-town immaturity. Not only do I not that I have matured in these areas but my friends and family, the livelihood of my former context, express their observations as well. Having put this in a positive light, we must also consider that returning to an old context can also reveal negative changes. For instance, for someone who has always been very patient with people, returning home to stay in a parent's household may reveal that the individual is now not so patient as he once was.

Another interesting facet of context is how we behave differently in different contexts. Although hopefully not to a large degree, we are on some level constantly defined by reactions to other people. For instance, someone who has been known for being at least mildly confident, who moves away for her first job may find that she is suddenly terribly intimidated by her boss or co-workers and it not the same confident person in her new context.

This has been made real to me with the issue of calling this past semester. After coming out of college being very convinced I was called to ministry, having the backing of many friends and family in that conviction, I suddenly found myself here in Mexico with many insecurities about my calling. Fear and intimidation began to rule my thoughts on my calling. Only after returning to the States (for RUF training and Christmas) and having a very encouraging talk with a pastor-friend who knows me very well, did I realize how much destruction to my perception of my calling that fear and intimidation had caused. My gifts have not changed. My experience has not changed. But my context did, and that (the combination of people and culture) was enough to shake up my ideas of who I was.

We cannot escape context. In the story that we have been written into, it is our setting and the characters that we come in contact with. My thoughts on context have not been exhausted, and I know that this issue will be a continual source of discouragement and encouragement. Thank God that I am shaped but not ultimately defined by my context and that His providence actually utilizes the "where" and "with who" of our lives.