Grace Upon Grace
by Bbuye lya Mukanga
Flo and Muniini Mulera have left Nova Scotia after visiting us for ten glorious days. They have returned to their vertical home in Etobicoke, Toronto. God has shown us His grace through Flo and Muniini and through other friends far and near, as well as old and new. God has also shown us His grace through the creation we see around us, and which we especially explored and enjoyed together with Flo and Muniini.
There are times when I feel that I was shortchanged during my early years of life in the tropics. I literally grew up on the Equator — where there are no seasons like those in the more northerly and southerly environs to mark the passage of time. The clockwork rotation of autumn, winter, spring and summer has taught me yet one more way in which to appreciate God’s rhythm of life in different way. But I have also not been quite endeared to the cold, snowy weather, the multi-layered clothing, the shoveling of snow, and all the outlay that it takes to live in Nova Scotia. Hence, I also do remember and miss the warmth and humidity of the tropics. This is not to speak of the our deep longing for family and the longtime friendships back home in Uganda, and in other tropical locations we have lived in, including Guam, West Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Myanmar and Laos.
One of the highlights of Flo and Muniini’s time with us was when Muniini and I visited our young family friend Bradley (Brad). Brad is only in his early 30s, the same age group as our boys. Brad suffers from Huntington’s Disease (HD), lives in a nursing home, and needs fulltime assistance. All his life, Brad had wanted to be a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Officer. He prepared for this by serving in the Cadanian Defence Forces and getting a degree in public relations. Soon after graduation it became apparent that he would not be able to join the RCMP due his HD prognosis. I spend around three to four hours with him every Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday, he told me, “Thank you for bringing Muniini to visit me. He has the most incisive mind I have eve encountered and also a very warm heart. He is a beautiful soul!”
As they have done every November since retirement, Muniini and Flo had planned to go and spend the winter months in Uganda soon after visiting us. They put those plans on hold this time because of the heightened Ebola alert in the region. In July, we too had to put our travel plans to go to Uganda on hold on account the advisories on Ebola.
Muniini and Flo and Syvia and I spent some time contemplating together the long period of time that we have known each other (with Muniini and I going back some 59 years), and also the various aspects of time, space and spiritual experiences that God has taken us through. We came to the unanimous consensus that no matter the place, the season or the circumstances that it that we are in, we are just humble, faithful workers in the Vineyard of the Lord. By Grace, God loves us, and by His mercy He has enabled us to have reconciliation with Him and with each other. It is, therefore, not for us to question or try to figure out how God, in His sovereign will and power has ordered everything on Earth and in the whole Universe. He perfectly decides on what He does and how He does it. Indeed, we are told in Ecclesiastes 3:9–14:
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
Yes, God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into people's (our) hearts, and …. there is nothing better for people (us) than to be joyful and to do good as long as they (we) live. ~~~ And it is all of Grace.