Places

Do you have those places?  Those places that are somehow more important than others? Perhaps you had that extraordinary feeling of discovery when you happened on it.  Maybe you were wandering, looking for a place, or maybe you weren't, but now you know you will come back to it.  Perhaps it is a place you knew about all along, but it has become special because of what you thought about or what you did while you were there.  Maybe it is a place comforting in its familiarity, or a place that is familiar only in its sense of difference and the refreshment it brings to you.

I think most of us have these places.  I certainly do.  Sometimes these places are far away, and they have become over time a place in my memory that is probably different from the actual place.  I wonder how it will be if I return?

I long to share these places, to show someone how the hill curves this way or the shadows fall that way or the birds always sing that tune.  Do you feel this way?  I know I rarely 'have the time' to let others show me where they have explored, and of course, who would take the time to follow me around and let me show them my places?  Yet that would make an interesting life, don't you think?  It strikes me that we neglect to see not just literal places, but about many things that others care about.  How would we all be different if we really learned to listen and to see, to take the time to penetrate part of the loneliness we all feel and really listen?

Place

This week I moved into a new apartment –well, really it feels more like a house than “just” an apartment. Both my housemate and I are ridiculously excited about it. So excited that it makes me stop and think. Why? Sure, it is a nice old place with lots of character and even though it may not be in the best neighborhood by some standards we like the location. But why is moving in so important?

My hypothesized answer is that we want to settle. We were excited about moving into our first apartment last year, but we knew that it would most likely be temporary. Now we can hope that we won’t have to move in a year, as both of us have been doing since we left our parents’ homes for college. Settling means putting down some roots, doing things well now as small investments – hanging curtains with care, planning for a garden – hoping we will be here for a while to enjoy them.

Settling means security, in the wisdom of the world. I am again reminded of the challenging words of Jesus “the Son of Many has no place to lay his head”, and continue in my struggle to understand what it means to follow Christ here and now. It seems to me that we must be willing to loosen our grasp on the gift of place even as we treasure it, knowing our hearts truly long for another home (eg Heb 11). In our fervor of settling in here, I pray that we may avoid the temptation to comfortableness and apathy, and learn rather the art of contentment and generosity.