Just Sittin' on the Front Porch Gnawin' on Sugar Cane

I had kept myself pretty busy the past few days. It was my first week teaching pre-k and the kids...well...they were kids to be sure. So there was no time to think or feel really anything more than "Is it break time yet?" It was as I laid down to rest that I was overcome by the homesickness that had been lurking deep within all the while. I had known it was there. I knew as soon as I stopped long enough to really acknowledge the feelings I would be crushed. And I was. Thank God, He is a God who saves.

As I lay there I wondered if this ache would ever go away or if I would always long for home or if this place would ever become that word to me. It is not that I was missing my physical home so much as the familiar faces that haunt the rooms and shops and streets. I found myself wishing that everyone I knew and loved would have a sudden calling to serve orphans in Africa. As I lay there deep in the throws of my pity party, my roommate walked in, "Come. I have brought sugar cane. You eat with us." So I went. And I ate.

The kids were all around and their laughter and excitement at such an unexpected treat filled the dusky evening sky. I laid my head against the cool green pillar watching them eat and soaking in the sound. Sharron (one of my girls) took my cane and said "Here I start for you." With her teeth she peeled back the tough green layer of the outer stock to expose the soft white sweet sugar. "Now you just bite" she directed me. So I bit. 

Sweetness filled my mouth as fresh laughter filled the space around me. I opened my eyes to see the kids waiting in expectation for my reaction to my first taste of sugar cane. Apparently I had done better than expected. We sat and we ate and we ate and we laughed all the while my aching ceased and a peace came that I will never forget. It was a peace that ushered in a hope. A hope that told me "Yes Ashley, this will one day be like home."