Embrace the Breeze, Protect Your Peace
Editor’s Note: As DC Service Corps volunteer Jennifer Eburuoh reaches the end of her year of service, she reflects on how she has learned to surrender to God’s will throughout the year.
Right now, as I sit on the front porch of Casa San Salvador, my home for the past 10 months, I witness the trees buffeted by a breeze. They rock this way and that until, as a breeze calms, the branches still and resume their composure. In many ways, the many experiences of the past year have come as welcome but unexpected breezes.
While I knew that my placement at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would deeply immerse me into the reality of the immigration system, I could not have predicted the vulnerability that I have been privileged to observe while listening to stories of asylum-seekers. Neither did I anticipate the solidarity I felt during many conversations with the passionate interns and fellows on my team. I’ve experienced the fun (yet sometimes anxiety-inducing) task of trying out a new recipe or form of prayer for my housemates. I’ve exchanged laughs and stories with neighbors in Brookland, DC.
However, this year has also made me increasingly aware of my desire to predict what is to come. I’ve repeatedly walked into our home chapel desiring deep and silent meditation only to find myself worrying over plans for the upcoming week, month, or year.
I know that if this year has taught me anything, it is that there is much beauty in what cannot be planned, only experienced. I have also learned that each day I have to choose to live in the present moment and entrust what is to come into God’s hands. I can do so with every deep breath, every sensation of my feet on steady ground, and every attempt to take in and appreciate what is before me.
As I conclude the year, I am aware of the fact that God calls me to deeper abandonment and surrender in order to receive the gifts and surprises that are in store. As feelings of anxiety over the future threaten the serenity of even this breezy evening on the Casa’s front porch, I choose instead to live in gratitude for the gifts of this year. I choose peace.
Question for Reflection: How can you embrace the “breeze” and find peace when life is unpredictable?
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