Have you ever run away from home?

I remember when I was 6 or 7. I asked my mom if I could have a dog.

She said “no”.

That seemed rather unreasonable so I decided to run away from home. That was probably the extent of my thinking on the matter. I packed up my green and brown checkered suitcase with only the essentials, my stuffed animal and a pair of underwear. And off I went. I said goodbye to my mother and walked out the front door. When I got outside I realized that I didn’t know where I was going to go. So, since I had started this I was going to walk to the end of the driveway. Yup, that’s where I went, to the end of the driveway where the driveway met with the sidewalk. I wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself, so there I stood.

My situation suddenly seemed different at the end of the driveway. I began to miss the comforts of home. My room. My toys. My mom. ‘I suppose I really didn’t have to have a dog’, I thought to myself, ‘maybe I could get a cat!’

As my perspective changed I decided that I had made my mother suffer long enough so I went back up the driveway. I opened the front door and pronounced to my mother - who was exactly where I left her 5 minutes earlier - that I had decided to stay. She seemed relieved.

Sometimes a little time away is all we need. As we break away from whatever our ‘situation’ is and take time to reflect, often our perspective changes. You may find that the situation doesn’t seem as bad when you take the opportunity to step away from it. It doesn’t have to be a long time, but just a time, to be quiet, to pray, to reflect (see Matt. 14:23) and in that time away we may realize how very blessed we really are!

God knew that about us and created the Sabbath.

As you stand at the end of your driveway today, I pray that you may gain new insight into whatever your ‘situation’ is. I pray you sense a new HOPE and experience the virtue of gratitude.

Through the month of August, I will be taking some time to do this as well. Be blessed by our speakers, meet with one another safely, and let’s pray that we might be able to gather together in person in September.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10