For Those Searching

“This is home.

Now I’m finally where I belong….

I’ve been searching for a place of my own.

Now I’ve found it…”

      We all want that. We want this sense that we've finally arrived at the place that we belong. We want to know we're doing what we were meant to do. We want to know that we indeed have...purpose. We look for this day to day in our personal dealings, in our relationships, in our work, in our hobbies, and in ourselves. We dig deeper and deeper in this crazy never ending search for peace. Or maybe we gave up on that search long ago. No matter where we're at, I think the problem is that we've looked in all the wrong places.

      I think that the issue is identity. We want to be able to be or associate ourselves with something good...something meaningful...something that is satisfying to our heart and psyche. We want to be able to take pride in who we are and what we do so that we can rest in who we are and look forward to doing it again the next day. We want to be able to look into the eyes of a person who completes us in all the right ways that we have the privilege of spending the rest of our lives with knowing we can lean on and share ourselves with them hand-in-hand. These are, in our culture, what we have called "the dream."

      But what happens when things change? What if we no longer have that career? What if the day to day craziness and stress takes the best of us and we aren't even doing what we set out to do any more? What do we do when that significant other becomes distant, suddenly picks up and leaves, or breaks our trust and heart? What happens when the adventures stop? What happens when sickness or accidents take away our abilities and energy. What happens at the end of our lives...?

"...We were meant to live for so much more.

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside..." 

     We don't think twice about the possibilities, and maybe we try not to. We're clutching onto everything we have in this world for dear life in fear that a strong wind, bad luck, or bad people will come along and take it away. But the fact of the matter is that this life is fleeting...ever changing. The things we have, the people we know, won't be here forever. If that is true, what do we hold on to then? What do we find our identity in? 

      Life is a journey with a world full of endless possibilities. We might be meant to do a number of things in our lifetime, go any number of places and meet all kinds of people, but our arrival never occurs on this planet. 

It's in the hereafter.

      We find our ultimate identity in a God that made us, loves us, gave Himself for us, and has a plan for us. We can fight that fact, deny it, kick and scream, shake our fist, ignore it, but at the end of life, we all need to face the possibility. So why not search it out? Test it. Question it. Put it on trial. And maybe, one day, embrace it. 

      We all have a bag full of choices given to us that we can make from the day we're able to think to the day we die. We all have a sense of self-awareness. Every day and every moment is a chance to be the best version of ourselves, to be the person we were meant to be and that we want to be. Don't settle. Take the higher road. Live the deepest life. See the world and what it is. Dig into the hard questions...the ones that really matter. When we find our identity in and pursue the plans that God has for us, we will always have purpose, direction, and hope. We can find that...if we search hard enough.

"It wont be long. 

I belong somewhere past this setting sun.

Finally free, finally strong...

Somewhere back where I belong."

quotes/lyrics from "This Is Home", "Meant To Live", and "The Setting Sun" by Switchfoot