It is already February of 2025. How were you in January? Do you still carry the excitement and anticipation of starting a new year?
Let me share a little about my past month. In early January, my father, younger sister, and two nephews came to visit Sydney from Korea. They stayed at my house for about three weeks and returned to Korea. They left Sydney Airport just as they had arrived. My father said that he had too much luggage, so I gave him an extra suitcase. He put jars of honey in it as gifts for his friends, but unfortunately, they were all confiscated at the airport. Even though he travelled a lot, he still made mistakes. When traveling, it’s best to pack only the essentials—trying to take too much can lead to unexpected trouble. For a while after they left, I felt a sense of being left behind and experienced homesickness for Korea.
In the midst of all this, I was reminded of an article I read long ago about an American Anglo pastor’s wife who had moved to Korea after marrying a Korean pastor. At the end of her interview, she said, “Bloom where you are planted, for God never makes mistakes in His guidance.”
When I first came to Sydney 28 years ago to study Australian literature, I never imagined that I would marry a pastor here, have children, and settle here permanently. Even more, I never dreamed that I would study theology and become a pastor myself. That was never my plan for life. And yet, I am now in my third year of ministry at Bexley Uniting Church.
The church is a gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ. We are children of God, calling Him our Father and Jesus our Brother. We are a spiritual family journeying together in faith. And God's greatest commandment to us is to love God and to love our neighbours.
Each of you has been planted in this church family by God. May you bloom in faith here. And I hope this year will be one of practicing love for God and our neighbours. May God bless.