Travels of the Heart

This week my family has enjoyed the sweet blessing of a trip to our previous hometown. Travel along with me momentarily as I reflect on the life lessons that come from this scenery Sabbath? (If you’re looking for something a little more ‘meaty’ today, check out this archived post, Superlatives.)

• My kids frequently remarked that things loomed large in their memory yet were significantly smaller in present day. Our former playground haunts had slides that seemed to plunge several stories, but were really just a few feet off the ground. Similarly, I’ve often winced at the volumes of mental and emotional energy I spent on issues that, in hindsight, pale in magnitude.
  My takeaway: Try to remember that what appears to be a mountain today will eventually be a molehill. 

• After several days with extended family, I carried my eleven year old nephew to the car as we said goodbye. Our hearts were tender at the farewell, so I tried to distract him with pleasant thoughts and inquired about what his favorite parts of recent days were. His reply was an emphatic, “Time with my family!” It simultaneously thrilled me and reduced me to tears.
  My takeaway: Nothing is as precious as the people we love. It doesn’t matter what we do, but it matters how much we immerse ourselves in the shared moment.
   
• As we retraced the paths of our former lives in venues that hold many memories, we relived those occasions verbally by recounting what took place in each special spot. Our children giggled at the thought of me harking in the halls of my old high school (which produces an awkward laugh in me, as well). They gasped at the house where Daddy lived in college (also an appropriate response), and enjoyed a full range of emotion as we drove by the only house they remember living in before moving to Idaho. Even sweeter was worshiping in the church where we were married on the day of our 17th anniversary.
  My takeaway: Telling stories is an important part of family identity and legacy, affording us all to see how God has moved in our lives from the vantage point of time passed. The retelling gives Him the glory and builds our faith.

As we travel through this life, may we seek to have God’s perspective on our time and the way we spend it. I’m happy to be walking alongside you, fellow sojourner.

And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
— Joshua 4:5-7 ESV 

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