If you live in the UK by now you will be sick and tired of hearing about leaving. We have been talking about it for two years and for the past six months there hasnt been a single day when the news hasnt been full of it. Leaving the European Union.
This week Ive been thinking about leaving in a different context. Leaving my job. I've been working for a charity for the past year and yesterday was my last day. I cleared my desk, logged out of various web pages, left a handover list for the next person coming in and handed back my keys.
If only Brexit could be so simple!!!
Leaving is part of life, but it's often something we struggle with. Leaving a job, a house , a relationship, a country can be emotional, exhausting, expensive, challenging. Many, if not most, of us find security in staying put, putting down roots and forging commitments. Even when leaving something or someone is our own choice and we are happy about it, it can still be quite hard to do. Saying goodbye to people and places we love is sad. But it seems to me that God is a God who is constantly on the move and calling us to follow Him in a constant leaving, changing, not looking back, pressing on toward the goal experience.
All through scripture we see God telling people it is time to move on. Or sometimes He doesnt tell them He makes them. People are taken into captivity, sold into slavery, born in exile. Others are urged to leave where they are and move somewhere else. There are forty year long Exodus journeys and military forays into promised lands. Jesus is taken to Egypt as a baby and then leaves Egypt to return home again. Disciples leave their nets and follow Jesus. And later they leave Jerusalem to take the gospels to the four corners of the world. Spreading the news that God left heaven to come to earth and die on a cross for mankind.
We seem to be destined to be mobile. We should probably not be surprised when change happens and suddenly we find ourselves having to pack our bags and move on. We are nomads merely passing through this world on our way to an eternal destination. Our home is not here.
No comments:
Post a Comment