Growing up is all about leaving home. And if my life-experience means anything, "leaving home" is a recurring event, sometimes by choice, and sometimes by circumstance beyond our control. However it happens, growth in thought and emotion requires that we leave our home, and what we do upon leaving home is to seek another one, and in between the one and the other, a lot of traveling, uncertainty, dead-ends and side trips, until we arrive somewhere that offers settlement, security, a place to call home.
But "this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through" says it well. And sooner or later, the new "home" becomes staid and boring, unproductive and damaging to the human spirit, the God-created human spirit that longs for adventure, for new learning, for fresh hope and new friends. So, we pack our bags again and take off. Some look at us and wonder why. What's wrong with home, because it's their home, too, and they've settled down in it, they've sunk deep roots, and others around them sink their own roots, too, and with tendrils and vines, ensnare one another, making it virtually impossible to leave, or at least to leave without great effort, to uproot ourselves, and likely uproot others, too, in the process, tearing away the tendrils of "love" that hold us in place, vines that encircle and clutch and cling and tell us, "stay put."
But the human spirit, energized by the creator of our spirit, yearns and leans, and pulls and tugs ... to seek freedom on the road, to find a new home, a home that will last for awhile, until the urge to leave again emerges.
To "stay home" eventually kills the spirit, and nothing more deadly than a dead spirit, because dead spirits still "live" like zombies, sucking the life juices out of the still-living. Sucking the life out of others, until they too die, and become part of the living dead, or something like that.
To "stay home" beyond the early years when home provides nurture, comfort and formation, is deadly. To "leave home" is essential to the soul's health, and ultimately to the home in which we were reared, because when someone leaves home, the home is changed, too, maybe even transformed into something ever-more dynamic and growing.
The road ahead always beckons, and the spirit yearns to get going.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts." ~ Psalm 139:23
Showing posts with label human spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human spirit. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Growing Up and Leaving Home
Labels:
adventure,
God,
growing,
growing up,
Holy Spirit,
home,
human spirit,
leaving home,
moving ahead,
zombies
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Bravery
Not a day goes by without some impression of bravery.
Whether it be Brad Pit helping rebuild New Orleans or a daughter caring for an ailing parent – bravery!
The human spirit is a remarkable creation – strong, resilient, filled with faith and determination – created in the image of God!
Everyone of you is brave – you face the challenges of life and death and bear the burdens of responsibility with grace and dignity, though the knees weaken now and then, your hands tremble, and you wonder just how much you can bear.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
Our LORD fed the five thousand (Matthew 14:19) after two hard blows: 1) rejection in His hometown (Matthew 13:53) – it says, “they took offense at him,” and 2) the death of John the Baptist, beheaded by Herod at the request of a young girl prompted by her angry mother.
The Text says: “Jesus withdrew privately to a solitary place.”
Even the great Son of God needed time to recover.
But alas, as so many of you know, “time off” was not to be had. The crowds learned where He was and followed Him, and of Jesus, the Text says, “He had compassion on them.”
By the end of the day, when the crowds were hungry, He fed them.
Bravery … He was very brave … and so are you!
Whether it be Brad Pit helping rebuild New Orleans or a daughter caring for an ailing parent – bravery!
The human spirit is a remarkable creation – strong, resilient, filled with faith and determination – created in the image of God!
Everyone of you is brave – you face the challenges of life and death and bear the burdens of responsibility with grace and dignity, though the knees weaken now and then, your hands tremble, and you wonder just how much you can bear.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
Our LORD fed the five thousand (Matthew 14:19) after two hard blows: 1) rejection in His hometown (Matthew 13:53) – it says, “they took offense at him,” and 2) the death of John the Baptist, beheaded by Herod at the request of a young girl prompted by her angry mother.
The Text says: “Jesus withdrew privately to a solitary place.”
Even the great Son of God needed time to recover.
But alas, as so many of you know, “time off” was not to be had. The crowds learned where He was and followed Him, and of Jesus, the Text says, “He had compassion on them.”
By the end of the day, when the crowds were hungry, He fed them.
Bravery … He was very brave … and so are you!
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