everafter

I was struck by a thought recently that was not only a totally new thought, it was a whole new paradigm or way of looking at life. The thought was this: "I am planning to stay put, to live here the rest of my life!" Until we moved back to Illinois that had never crossed my mind as a possibility. My entire life has been one of moving from one location to another. In the 28 years of married life we have moved 5 times, and before that my parents' frequency of moving was probably close to the national average of once every 5 years. It had always seemed like an anomoly to have married someone who grew up in the same house that her father had grown up in. Such things just don't happen anymore, it's not the modern way. The controlling force in people's lives today is their work. Where can one go to get a "good job"? seems to be the no. 1 issue that keeps people on the move.
Personally, I had other reasons that kept me on the move, reasons related to trying to discover my core identity and "calling" in life. As my identity and calling become increasingly linked with the land, and as it became clear that we were being entrusted with a piece of land to be caretakers of, it was a simple, natural and straightforward move to step out of the fast track of modern life and commit to putting down roots in one place for the rest of our life. Not only is that a radical shift in how one relates to and thinks about the land, it can also lead to a radical difference in how one relates to the people and community that one is living in. My wife and I have been slow to find and commit to a church body in the area. But now that we have found one that we are comfortable with I am taking it with much more seriousness and a long-term perspective that I've never had before. It is a whole new perspective for me and it feels good, it feels right.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. . .
The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever." (Psalm 37:3,29)