This is probably my leading mantra while I've been in Sabah. It's even drawn a couple of jokes from some people since they know it's how I'll react to most situations. But what can I say? If there's nothing you really can do and you don't know how things are going to go, why not decide to go with the flow and approach situations with the most open mind set possible? An example of this would be my crazy weekend. Saturdays for me are a non-stop sprint of English lessons, choir rehearsals, and any other work that's on my plate. So by the time I get to youth group on Saturday nights, I'm extremely tired. That week, the youth decided to have a sleepover at the Theodora house. Since all I wanted to do after youth was fall into bed, I wasn't up to hosting youth late into the night at the house. But one of the leaders would be there as well. So I told myself, just go with it. Turns out that night was actually really great and I ended up being able to talk with the other youth leader about his plans for seminary and he shared how he was feeling about heading off on the path to becoming a pastor.
I get up the next morning for Sunday worship and we have English afterwards. This is one of my less formal classes since it's based on having discussion. The youth come to class with questions about English phrases and what to say in different situations. In turn, I can ask them about how to say things in Malay. It's actually a great way to work together and learn purely based on everyone's interests. It's a discussion where everyone can have input and learn exactly what they want to know. It's also a way for me to find out more about what youth here are interested in and what's on their minds. Despite the fact that I was feeling a bit tired between church and English, I catch another bit of energy out of being able to spend time with the youth.
After English, some of us go to a kampung outside of Tenom for weekly church service with the people there. Again, I start to feel tired as the afternoon goes on and wonder if I'll be able to keep awake during church. But once we get to church, it's good to catch up with the people and see how they're doing. I'm a bit excited to find that some of the words that we talked about in class earlier turn up in church and I'm a bit more alert.
After church, the youth want to go and play futsal and invite me to come along. I'm really feeling tired, but they have invited me and I don't want to turn down the invitation. "Just go with it," I tell myself. "Don't think about being tired. This is futsal! You've missed futsal so much." Once we start playing, I forget about being tired and everyone gets totally wrapped up in the game. Afterwards we sit down together, cooling off and talking about the game. We're not quite ready to go our separate ways and we go back to the church together to practice some music we'll be singing on Friday. I find it hard to believe that it's already evening and despite the fact that I thought I would be exhausted, I've been carried through another day.
Just go with it. It's become my mantra when I'm starting to feel a bit negative or weary about a particular situation. It's become my mantra because things tend to turn out far better than expected and I am able to deepen my relationships with those around me in a ways that would not have been possible if I had just stopped at no. So it's not a "just go with it" that said in some sort of exasperated tone that says I'm fed up. It's a reminder to myself to stay open and see what God will do in the day. And I find that God gives so much for me to not only get through the day, but to thrive and find gifts in situations.
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