With God In A Strange LandSample

Day 4 On living here

It can be a rude shock when we discover that ‘Plan A’ is never going to happen. One day, we wake up and realize that the life we had imagined was just that: a product of our imagination. Instead, we are living a different life altogether.

The border is sealed, the guards are impervious, and my ticket was non-returnable and one way. I live here now. Bag tucked under my arm, I head disconsolately back, and stow it away for next time. This is a process which is likely to repeat many times, I think - like a dog running time and time again at a high fence before realising it cannot be jumped. However, as with every trip away from home - it looks slightly different each time you return. Each time I come back from the border with that suitcase, ready to stash it away, I see the house just a little differently. I move things around, I update old things, I act like I am intending to stay here. Like a person with no passport, I start to think how I can make a life here rather than pining for there. Family are a huge help - constant in their love, and unchanged from the way they were. They live here, as well as there, it turns out. Friends are a blessing - kind, patient, standing by but never pushing in. The value of my faith is incalculable - lending light to the darker days and hope to the deeper valleys. (FromPostcards from the Land of Grief Copyright © 2019 by Richard Littledale.)

In our first reading, the prophet Jeremiah is coming to terms with the fact that he is now in exile, far from home, family, and roots. Rather than being told to ‘grin and bear it’ he is instructed to settle in and pray for the people around him.

In our second reading, Paul writes to his readers in a city beset with challenges for the Christian church. Borrowing a word from the market place, he tells them to ‘buy up the time’ as if it is going out of fashion. His readers are to make the most of every opportunity. Today, ask God to help you see the time and place where you are as a gift from Him and to cherish them both accordingly.