On my way to placement at Biblica my sandal broke. I was half between my flat and The Mount Business Centre, the location of Biblica. I was not near any road, so my options were limited to go back or trek on. I chose to continue walking by the Lagan and put a hair bobble around the sandal to allow enough structure to walk. When I got to the office, I put some clear tape around them and worked away all day.
When it was time to leave, I grabbed the packing tape dispenser and began to wrap brown tape around my foot. At this juncture one of the lovely, joyful offered me a lift home. I refused and walked home without incident and maintained an 11-minute kilometre average. On arrival at home though I began to reflect on had I made a wise decision:
The offer was unaffected and real – the person wondered if I got home okay all weekend, their working day was almost over and were willing to give up time to assist me. And yet there was something that stopped me.
Was it self-sufficiency rearing its head again in my life,
[I will walk in broken shoes because I am the only one who can fix this problem],
the pride of poverty
[I will walk in broken shoes because I am poor and at least I have shoes],
or was stubbornness becoming an issue,
[I have worked out a fix for this problem do not move me from this stance].
During my session of placement today I took stock and realised it was none of these things. I genuinely knew I could get home, safely and comfortably in the broken sandals. My issues were around warranty which I could not sort until I got home. Speed of travel was therefore of the essence for me and that meant walking rather than Friday evening traffic.
Sometimes however, it is a balance between my need to do it myself and others needs to help. Learning to accept help as been an on-going journey for me and I hope this coming academic year to engage with it fully.
Some
men came,
bringing to him a
paralysed man,
carried by four of them.
Since they could not get him to Jesus
because of the crowd, they made an opening
in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and
then lowered the mat the man was lying on. Mark 2:3-4.
Rebuilding Community 