Wayfaring Stranger

Thinking about a lot of things. And I've been looking for an excuse to post this video. I think it's lovely and I want to be in a group that is good enough to do it someday.

The immigrants and the slaves of the first half of our country's history were so uprooted that they had a deep understanding of what it means to be in this world but not of it. In their songs they express a longing for a perfect home, shared with their loved ones who are separated from them by oceans and mountains and often death. Sorrow and pain are not supposed to be part of our life. But we are passing through this world, where they are. The place where we are meant to live, in joy and peace, our true home, is on the other side of the time we spend here.

As I am going into my last year of undergraduate study, I am SO ready to be done and on to the rest of my life. I am young and naive and see the future full of bright possibilities. The more I dream of the life I want to set up for myself, the wonderful things I want to do, the harder it becomes to remember that this world is not my home. I worry about finding a job. Will anyone in this world want me to work for them? Will I be able to make ends meet? Will I get to do something that I love? Will I be able to live near people who love me? As an adult, I need to sort out all of these questions and prepare myself to answer, or let God answer each of them. I have to let go of my fear or rejection. It's God's job to make someone willing to hire me. It's my job to apply diligently.

Among all these questions and searching, I need to take a step back and regain a proper perspective.
My true job is to love the Lord my God with all my strength, heart, and mind. It was much easier to believe in this when I was a child, having my basic needs met by my parents. Now I must be active in this walk of faith. I need to find road by which to walk through this lonesome valley, not a place in it to call my own.

Growing up has often felt like a training course to make me fit to live in the world. Being a grown up will be a training course to make me fit to live in the next world.