Journeying to Myanmar is a regular and enjoyable pilgrimage
for me. I get to witness the ever
expanding work of Myanmar Institute of Theology, check in on how our shared
Doctor of Ministry students are faring, and learn a bit more of the promise of
the emerging democracy here.
I arrived
close to on time last evening, but my luggage did not. Evidently it is enjoying an extra day in
Seoul. I first learned that this was the
case as a young woman met me coming off the plane. I assumed that she had good news about my
transportation or was going to expedite customs for me, given my lofty status
as a seminary president; no, she said I needed to file a missing luggage
report, which was my first clue that indeed it was.
The
contents are of special import this year as I am transporting diplomas for our
first ten Doctor of Ministry graduates.
Further, my doctoral regalia, which equips me with the pomp to present
them, is part of heavy load yet to arrive.
There are also books for the upcoming course, as well as the usual
personal items (all sorely needed).
As regular travelers know, there is little one
can do to hurry the process. One simply
has to file the requisite report, identifying the colors and shape of one’s
missing bags. As I heard myself tell the
agent that it would be a “disaster,” if the luggage did not arrive by Friday
evening, I had to chuckle. A “disaster”
in Myanmar usually involves loss of life and destruction of natural resources.
When I
explained my quandary to Maung Maung Yin, Vice-Principal at MIT, he said “we usually
find something to give them until the real thing arrives.” What a wonderful, non-anxious response! We will do what is possible, what is in our
control, a lesson honed through patient endurance of hardship.
Flexibility is a wonderful
grace. It allows one to separate the
essential from the extras. So what if I
must go to dinner tonight with the Principal, Vice-Principal, commencement
speaker, and other dignitaries in the same clothes I travelled in? Having the opportunity to share a meal with
them is far more important than what I am wearing.
And if the luggage does not appear
tonight, I will borrow a choir robe from the Ywama Baptist Church and put on
the presidential bling, which I did carry with me. That should allow me to
confer degrees with sufficient—and flexible—dignity.
Molly T. Marshall
Central prepares women and men for seeking God, shaping church, and serving humanity.
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