Souvenirs

Guest blogger Lisa from Sweden, who has lived and served in Asia for over 20 years as a cross-cultural worker and in member care, shares a glimpse of her transient life and the treasures she’s collected over the years. Life and friendship form into long-lasting collectible moments. Lisa encourages us to hold them ever so tightly in our hearts as they are more precious than gold.

I collect souvenirs. One may think that is obvious knowing how much I travel. I bring back knickknacks from my travels, but my souvenirs are mainly of a different kind. My souvenirs are made of people, relationships, and shared moments because life consists of moments. You can say I am a huge collector of moments. Moments are my most valuable souvenirs; smiles, laughter, and tears of joy and sadness along with jokes and daily life experiences which I get to share with precious people. People whom I am blessed to call my friends, whose stories I get to be part of, and who have entered my world.

As I travel between countries, cities, and my two homes, I constantly find myself carrying lots of things. I’m often moving my favorite things from one home in Sweden to my other world that is home in Thailand and vice versa. The weight limit of travel constantly constrains me, so I must carefully select what makes it into my baggage.

Thankfully my favorite kind of souvenirs fit into my heart and I can bring them with me everywhere with no weight limitations!!! People tell me I have a big heart; a heart with room for more souvenirs.

My moment souvenirs are light and sweet, funny and crazy, and at times they can feel heavy with burdens. There can be tiring and painful moments where I constantly miss my precious people like my children, grandkids, and family members, and also my fellow travelers. The travelers who’ve crossed my path from different corners of the world, in different seasons of my life with whom I have been fortunate to end up working alongside and have lived many of life’s seasons. These precious ones have invested much in me and I in them. They and our memories are each part of my special collection of souvenirs.

As a collector, I look over my precious pieces from time to time. I close my eyes and can go back in time to those moments gone by. I see smiles and hear giggles of laughter. I hear the voices I am missing. I see the faces of the ones I enjoy to be around. I remember the hugs–the joyful ones of meeting again after a long wait as well as the sad ones when departing once more. These are my mental memory pictures of life; my souvenirs. No one can take them from me, I can pack as many as I like with no limitations. These souvenirs are hidden in my heart and only I have the key.

---

Are you a fellow wanderer? Join me and others along the wandering way by subscribing at the bottom of the website or share your story. We are all on a pilgrimage toward truth, love, peace and we can find these through Christ in community. Let’s journey together. What are you learning? Where have you been? Don’t hesitate to share!