The place where our spirit runs free...

"When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am."
~ John 14:3
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"Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my spirit can run free
Got to find my corner of the sky"
~ From the musical "Pippin"

This morning I woke up with these lyrics going through my head. I have to admit, it is one of my favorites because I realize the words are a need that many of us have. To find a place where we belong.

Years ago I went walking through familiar forests I knew as a child in search of some peace after having experienced a difficult time in my life. Funny how when I was a child growing up I couldn't wait to get away from the hills, forests and corn fields that seemed to create walls preventing me from living the dreams that I had. Later in life I seemed to find the need to return to these places once again to find those dreams again, thinking that perhaps they might still be there.

Instead I found an aging man who looked at the forest in a different way, struggled to climb out of some of the deep valleys, and saw houses that now stood where a cornfield once grew. Things had changed, and so had I.

Finding our place is a lifelong pursuit. Our ideas and dreams lead us to places where we hope to realize our belonging, but then there is Jesus telling us, "I am going to prepare a place for you," and I realize that the "you" is actually, "me."

Perhaps that is why for many there exists an uneasiness? Or the struggle to "fit in," or to find ways to belong?

The kingdom of God is our eternal home that seems to surround us at times, but yet, we struggle to walk in, or to invite that kingdom into our present life.

We do not have to wait until we die in order to discover that life. Each day we are invited to welcome the kingdom of God into our daily life. To realize that it is more than just a place, or some corner of the sky. It lives within you and I.

The kingdom of God is the place where our spirits will run free, and our heart is the place where that journey begins.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018