Sunday Sentiments is an attempt to record what God has been teaching me and the way in which He does it.
I've come home for a few days, to regroup and to meet my newest niece-in-love. I couldn't help but reflect as I drove into town, how familiar my hometown is. Familiar roads, familiar faces. Even the chilly spring weather is familiar.
I don't need directions when I'm here. I haven't used these shortcuts in a year but I know them as if I'd used them yesterday. It was soothing and effortless to remember 294N connects with 88W and then I could shoot up 355N to connect with Roosevelt. Nashville's highways don't make any sense to me and I'm easily turned around. But here in Illinois I am master of this domain.
I cut through my parent's neighborhood, the one that gets everyone lost and calling frantically, "I've missed the house!" It feels nice to drive around and through, veering here and there.
And I remember why I left. Why it seemed important to free-fall for awhile into God's grace and to re-learn dependence. I approach one year in Nashville and I confidently say this was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Even though I don't know the shortcuts or always remember that Blakemore turns into Wedgewood. Even though I'm still making sense of this scene and developing friendships and figuring out what I want from this life.
All has not turned out the way I imagined it would. In fact, nothing has turned out the way I imagined it would and I'm OK with that.
Metaphor drips around me this trip home. Maybe it's inherent in any hometown reunion. Maybe it's because I recognize the similarities between then and now and decisions to be made.
I say all this because I'm about to take another leap of faith. It scares me yet, yet thrills me. Nothing is certain, yet I know I can't stand still.
I'm ready.
How do you feel when you go home? Are there any changes you need to make in your life? Do you have a favorite back road short cut?
