Some days I hate it.  My long brown coat, I hate it.  Why should I have to put on another layer?  I am tired of getting home from school all hot and sweaty because of my coat.  Why is my freedom infringed?  Other days I love my coat.  It give me a certain anonymity, unless of course, you look at my shoes which are truly western.   I can blend in better.  With my brown coat on, I can walk on the streets in my neighborhood.   In the summer, I am often able to wear short sleeves underneath making it cooler to move about.   My coat is a blessing and a curse.  It gives me freedom yet takes it away.  

On the days when I am frustrated about my brown coat, God often reminds me about why I wear this brown coat.   I wear this brown coat because God has asked me to.  He has asked me to come to this place and to love this people.  When I look at the big picture, it is a small thing.  I am not being persecuted.  God provides for all my needs and many of my wants.  This small thing of wearing the brown coat allows me to work and serve here in a way that respects the culture and the people here.  I don’t always like it but it comes with the territory of life here.

My brown coat is something obvious.  It is a physical thing that I take off and on.  In my life, there are other small things that God asks me to do that are much like this brown coat.  I don’t necessarily like them.   I think I have certain rights.  I want it to be about me.  Why should I have to do it?  It might mean extra patience and time with a student who has been absent.  Or it could be playing wii tennis with my son even if I have no chance of winning.   It might even be hearing a sewing ladies story and trying to figure out a way to help her feed her children.   Or it might mean redoing my lesson plans for the third time because once again we either have a day off or half a day.  I don’t like dying to self.   To be truthful, I am not very good at it.   

God’s work reminds me of these things.