A Shard from Ukraine

A thousand flowers stand tall in the wind. Their yellow petals contrasting brightly against the blue sky. Together they sway, but never fall. Miles upon miles of these flowers, all facing the same direction, all pointing towards the sun.

A thousand people stand tall in the war. Their yellow and blue flag contrasting brightly against the darkness of conflict. Together they sway, but never fall. Villages upon villages of these people, all facing the same direction, all pointing towards the Son.

Conflict— whether small through disagreements over silverware placement, or massive through disagreements over land borders — tends to bring out the true colors in people. While in Ukraine, even in our sheltered little group, you could see personalities shining the strongest under stress.

An overarching theme started to emerge in my Ukrainian brothers and sisters. They look after one another. Always.

From the morning and evening texts sent out to friends, neighbors, and relatives letting them know they survived another night/day to the hands held during moments of fear, their commitment to taking care of each other is hard to miss.

I could probably point to a hundred verses in the Bible that speak to the fact that Christians are supposed to bear one another’s burdens, continuously meet together, and always walk towards Christ as one body. And I have quoted many of these verses both to myself and to others as encouragement to not give up meeting together or to reach out to others even when it’s inconvenient. And then I got here, and those verses took on an entirely new light, a light that was so clearly reflected through a piece of the mirror that shows us God’s perfect plan for humanity.

Kind of hard to imagine seeing God’s perfect plan more clearly in war, but bear with me!

Every second of every day, in every interaction with the Ukrainians, I got that glimpse again! The self-sacrificing, determined nature that allowed these people to stand strong and hold one another up in the face of tragedy. I would surely get burnt out if I was going through what these people have been going through for as long as they have. But they aren’t burnt out: they even had time to use their precious little vacation time to do MORE work with refugees in clinics!

How? How do they keep going? And how do they do it with so much grace?

They keep their faces pointed towards the Son of the Living God and encourage one another to do the same.

Those texts each day weren’t just to see who was dead or alive. They served to remind each other that they still care. That they’re still connected. That they’re still supporting, even if they are not there physically.

It encourages me to know that no matter how chaotic or disjointed life may get, my brothers in sisters in Christ will always hold me up. And at the same time, I should always hold them up! Because in doing so, we are encouraged and we encourage one another. I like to think that when we do that, we make God smile. That sort of community is what He has desired for us since the beginning.