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I have been putting the inevitable 'My YAV year is over/Goodbye Nashville/Hello Larne' post for the past few weeks. Partly because you all know this year has come to an end from personal interactions, Facebook, and if anyone was in the Nashville airport on August 6th...Jeff Moles' tears also would have indicated my departure.
In many ways my last week in Nashville was just as I had expected it.
It was filled with many of the best things from this year...
hugs,
fried chicken,
laughter,
sweet tea,
tears,
hot dogs,
prayers,
and beer.
Now, it is possible that 11 days later I am looking back through rose-tinted glasses, there were also things I did not enjoy...
the goodbyes,
the packing,
the long trip home,
and the change.
Life in Nashville was good, I had settled into my community.
The thing is 'Larne life' is also good.
Don't get me wrong it is not that I am depressed now that I have returned home, far from it.
Take a look at the picture above, I hope I will no longer take for granted the beauty of the land around me. Not only is my homeland beautiful, I have friends in this wee town who have been with me through everything. Really, they are some of the best, actually they probably are the best.
I am even part of an elite group known as 'Superfriends', you know who you are.
Saying all this, transition is still difficult.
What have I learnt this year?
I could list many things...but below is my rambling on what may have been my biggest lesson this year.
One I will need to be reminded of continually.
I will be the first to admit to my many imperfections and mistakes. However, throughout my year as a YAV, I found myself challenged, not to ignore my imperfections, but not to focus on them (something I struggle with). Maybe it is what some call 'religious guilt', but I am the kind of person who struggles to forgive themself, even when others have. I beat myself up mentally, won't let myself forget, all the while letting this guilt take over the person I have been created to be; a child of God. No matter what mistakes I make, this identity can, and will, never be taken away from me, or any of us.
So my YAV year taught me this...
to get over myself,
stop feeling guilty,
and embrace my identity
as a child of God.
This was not my only lesson, but right now it is most significant.
