While the jury was out for many, many months the verdict has now come back. It was a difficult and even tormenting decision at times, whether to stay in Hungary or go back to my beloved America. I (unnecessarily) worried myself with this decision about my near future almost immediately upon setting foot in Budapest last August. I learned a lot along the way, and especially that if you’re always looking for the next opportunity, or escape, or whatever it is you might be distracting yourself with, you will be robbed of the fullness of here and now. Don’t do that – it’s you who will miss out! And besides, God absolutely wants to use your ‘here and now’ to lead you and direct you into that next place, whether it be a physical location or otherwise.

A little bit of my own journey: I left my great community of dearest ones and my very familiar life in Dallas to come to Hungary and be a teacher in August 2007. I was looking for a little more adventure, a little less mundane predictability. A little more challenge, a little less comfort. A place to dream and fly and a launching pad to eventually allow me to learn French fluently, go do the Paris thing, and somewhere along the way meet my prince. Then we would ride freely on wild Arabian horses through the plains of the African continent where we would have a farm house we lived in for half the year while we teach our barefoot multi-lingual children in nature’s classroom as zebras roam free in our backyard. Sound Bohemian enough…well, believe it or not, those are all still dreams of mine. I don’t know that they will happen exactly the way I have pictured them, but we will see. However, in the midst of my dreamy imagination, I also have this nagging inside me that craves deep and meaningful relationships. That craves stability and security. That craves making a difference and even more importantly, building lasting fruit. That craves to leave an imprint, and an indelible one. That craves to make the Lord known and famous and loved for he who truly is.

In order to fulfill those desires, it’s important to build roots, deep ones. Sometimes roots look differently. Not every plant or tree is the same. But they have these things in common: they must go into the ground. They must be planted. They must be watered and pruned. They should produce good fruit if they are good trees, as the bad fruit will be disposed of and the bad branches will be cut down. Perhaps the most notable part of the rooting and growing process is a four-letter word that is sometimes beautiful and sometimes torturous: T-I-M-E. It takes time to plant and root, it takes times to water, and it requires time to grow. We are all like trees and in order to build lasting and impacting relationships (effectively, fruit in our lives), we need to commit ourselves to the process. It’s not that we always know we will stay in one spot forever and ever; it’s often just a willingness to stay planted for ‘however long it takes.’ If that’s months, years, decades or a lifetime, then it’s being okay (or becoming okay ;) with that.

It’s with the deepening of that realization, revelation, epiphany (call it what you like), that I was able to come to the conclusion I did about this season’s ‘home.’ I decided that if I were to go back to Dallas or anywhere in the States, it would be because of the people I loved so dearly. In the meantime I’ve been pouring my heart into loving people here in Budapest and building a life here, and I knew that if I were to stay here, it would also be because of the people I am growing to love so dearly. So there was my dilemma. If I went home it would be for relationships, and if I stayed here it would be for relationships. The difference came when I realized that I already had a very strong foundation built with my family and friends in the U.S. (which I believe will not disappear) and had already gone through the pain of uprooting and replanting for a season, or ‘cutting the cord.’ However, such a foundation is still being built here in Hungary. A good friend here once told me, “You need stable people in your life, but those people also need a stable you in their lives.” That was when I decided that I am more willing to take the risk of overstaying my welcome than uprooting too soon. Since I’ve made that decision, fully trusting that God can and will provide for all my needs (and especially the man I’m going to marry, darn it ;), a flood of peace and confidence continues to wash over me. I can toast to that. Raise your glass, ladies and gents: Cheers to life in Budapest.