The USA – God speaks through the Word. In the beginning was the Word.

The USA – a land of dreams

The USA – a land of dreams, of tall skyscrapers, of fast, big cars, of luxury and of contrasts.
The United States – a sentimental journey into the past, always present in our hearts.

It was through the States that we met. It was the year 2000 – I was in the USA as an au pair, taking my first steps with computers and the internet, and there was a boy from Poland in love with America. We did not know each other in person then. We were brought together by a chance website, ktogdzie.pl. We saw each other for the first time only at the airport in Warsaw, when I came back to Poland.

Twenty-five years later we returned to the USA together – as a family, with our children.
Perhaps to check whether we had lost anything?

In the beginning was the Word

Before the trip my husband started worrying about one thing.
Twenty-five years earlier, when he was in the USA as a young man, he had come back to Poland a little later than he should have. Nothing serious – an ordinary youthful failure to keep an eye on a date.

We had a valid visa, everything was formally in order, but somewhere at the back of our minds a thought appeared:
„And what if it comes out? What if there is a problem at the border?”

I said calmly:
I will ask God. If I find the word „water” in Holy Scripture – a sign that we will fly across the great water and all will be well – then we stop worrying and we trust God. If I do not find that word, there will be trouble.

I opened the Bible.
There was a passage about waters poured out.

That was enough.

The border was crossed without any problem; it happened just as the Lord had foretold.
We flew.

A collision with reality

California is breathtaking.
Sun. Space. The ocean.
Expensive cars, wide roads, modern buildings, air conditioning everywhere – in the car, in the shop, in the hotel.

It is a country that impresses by its sheer scale.

But there is another side to it.

Tents on the streets of San Francisco.
People who have lost their battle with addiction.
The smell of drugs and of resignation in Los Angeles.
McDonald’s as the cheapest option for those who can only afford the bare minimum.

The contrast is enormous.
Beside the luxury – poverty.
Beside the technological might – loneliness.

This is not a criticism. It is an observation.

Did we lose anything?

I looked at our children walking beside us.
The fruit of that „chance” click back in 2000.

And I knew one thing.

We had lost nothing.

We did not stay in the States.
We did not build a career there.
We did not become part of that world.

We gained something else.

We gained a family.
We gained stability.
We gained an identity.

We gained Poland.

Perhaps we do not have skyscrapers like those.
Perhaps we do not have that kind of space.
But we have work.
We do not have homeless people’s tents at every turn.
We have churches in the centres of our towns.
We have the Eucharist within arm’s reach.
We have a spiritual foundation.

And none of that is to be taken for granted.

A dream fulfilled

This journey was the fulfilment of my husband’s dream.
It was a sentimental return to the place where our story began.
It was a shared celebration of his birthday.
It was ten days together – as a family.

God allowed us to go back.
He allowed us to see.
He allowed us to compare our dreams with reality.

And then to come calmly home.

Not with disappointment.
With gratitude.

Because sometimes you have to fly across the great water in order to appreciate even more what is on this side of the ocean.

A great world and a small human being – where is God in all this?

We looked at the vastness.
At the space.
At technology that outruns the imagination.
At cities that never fall asleep.

And I kept asking myself one question:
where in all this is there room for silence?

In ten days we did not come across a church as naturally as, in Poland, you pass one on the way to the shop or to school. Perhaps there were some – there certainly were – but they were not visible, they were not the centre, they were not the heart of the city.

Tall buildings draw the eye.
Advertisements draw the attention.
Shops draw customers.

A church in Poland draws the human being.

And perhaps that is what we saw most clearly of all.

The great world can dazzle you with its scale.
But without a foundation, a person becomes small within it.

Not because America is bad.
Only because without God at the centre, everything begins to revolve around something else.

We came back to Poland with one thought:
it is good to have a church within arm’s reach.
It is good to live in a place where faith is not an addition to the landscape, but a part of it.

And so, although the great world can dazzle with its size and its brilliance, in moments of silence – when the sky above us is wide and the heart is searching for the right direction – we find the one answer: God does not live in the tallest skyscrapers or in the most expensive brands. He lives where a person lifts their eyes and their heart towards Heaven – when they see that real strength lies not in the greatness of the world, but in the presence of God in everyday life.