Immigrants on the Move

*Sensitivity warning, if you’re easily offended by discussions about Jesus, Easter or God from a lapsed religious person this isn’t the blog for you.

This is my first Easter back in the UK for over 10 years. I’m surrounded by chocolate eggs the size of your head, and ready made Easter Egg Hunt packs that contain all you need to create an Easter hunt for your little one (surely that’s just small chocolate eggs for £1.50 and a garden?). And of course the inevitable ‘be saved’, ‘Christ has returned’ slogans on the churches.

I’m not anti-religious, in fact I had myself baptised as an adult, but God and I had a small falling out after I’d taken one knock more than I could handle. But the idea of resurrection this year intrigued me. I started this blog last October and since writing it I’ve gained a lot of clarity on the experiences I’ve had as a trailing spouse, on the emotions, challenges, achievements, and adaptations we all make when we’re living overseas. What struck me about the theme of Jesus being resurrected is this; as an immigrant overseas, how many times have you had to resurrect yourself, your personality, your passion for life?

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. Martin Luther.

Looking back on the moves we’ve made, the problems we’ve overcome, I feel not only have I resurrected myself, but as a couple we’ve had to resurrect our relationship. There has been a feeling of overwhelm that consumes a chunk of who I am as a person, that swallows up my persona and I have had to reach deep and bring that part of me back to life. Sometimes I’ve succeeded, sometimes I’ve failed but the consistent is that with each move the circumstances have led me to reconsider who I am, how I will be perceived in this new location, with a new group of people. I am pressed by circumstance to reinvent myself.

I don’t consider this a bad thing, I think it is a skill even Jesus would be impressed with, but I think that adaptability, the recreation of who you are that is often not a choice but a character trait we should all be very proud to have learned. And if there are days when you don’t have it in you to resurrect yourself one more time, then don’t. Rest, relax, do something good for your soul – even God rested on a Sunday.