He's just the same...

....really He is. Time won't change Him, and a different continent won't either. He is just the same.

 

You know how when your little you have all these expectations or ways you think things work. But then you eventually get out of your box and realize that they were all wrong. And you continue walking on, a little wiser, vowing to never let yourself sink into believing that something is one way, when you know its another. Yeah, I always thought that true growth could only happen away from the ordinary. Like a conference, retreat, or maybe a soul searching weekend with your best friends. But definitely never at home. No, at home life was just....normal. Home was where you hit the snooze button 10 times before dragging yourself out of bed. And while you may have had good intentions of starting your day off right the night before, well something else catches your eye. And you soon find yourself catching up on the latest news, surfing the web, or standing in the kitchen retelling the events of your evening last night. Home was where your social calendar was always staring back at you full to bursting. Work, Work, Work, a couple different things on the weekend, and Sunday to catch your breath. Home was where there was never enough time to dedicate to the important things in life. But away from home! Those mountain top experiences...that's what life was supposed to be like. The reason the life inside me was suffering...was because He was more real somewhere else...or so I thought.

 

I remember a few years ago, when for the first time I was away from home for more then a week. I went with HIGH expectations. I was going to come back a totally different person. So much deeper and wiser then when I had left. And my family was going to be amazed at my maturity, because I was going to experience Him there. Right now your probably either laughing at my ignorance, or quietly smiling to yourself cause you've experienced the same lofty expectations. While I definitely learned some things, and got to experience something different, I went home dissatisfied and frustrated. Because life was still the same. I still had to drag myself out of bed every morning, and there were still other things clamoring for my attention. And unfortunately I was often easily distracted. There was a war going on inside me that I couldn't identify or put my finger on. I wanted results without work. I wanted growth to come merely through experiencing life in a different place, without any effort required on my part. But it doesn't quite work like that. Life is work, growth takes work...it takes living intentionally, which can be down right exhausting. And no place on earth is a 'hot spot' for growth. He is everywhere.

 

A kind hearted lady gave me a hug, and blessed me with her kind words. Telling me how wonderful of an opportunity lay before me. She exclaimed about all the wonderful things I would experience. How things I read would come alive because of living across the world. And how life changing this next step would be. Everything she said was with the attitude of, You can't help but grow in such a place!

But the sad truth is you can go to such a place, and come back the same person. Oh yes you will definitely gain knowledge about a different culture and land. You can't help but pick that up unless you lock yourself in a bomb shelter the whole time. But deep, deep down, you can stay the same. A different location isn't going to magically make your carnal flesh disappear. That takes work. Intentional living. It looks good on paper. Hard work in real life.

Life is definitely different, but its a lot the same too. There's something called Self that follows you were ever you go. Whether you move to the next neighborhood, the next state, or across the world, it's still there, and He is too. The signs on passing busses are different, the spoken language, the daily schedule. But it's a lot the same too. I still have to drag myself out of bed in the morning, and there are still other things that catch my attention, and replace things. Caught up in a new daily grind I quickly lose my focus, and my eyes turn inward, instead of staying outward.
If we continually think that we will start 'growing' once we get to a certain age, or arrive at a particular milestone, or move to a different part of the globe, we are sadly mistaken. And we are only wasting time. Life is a constant battle, and a daily struggle....no matter where you live. And He's just the same.

 

"....life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up. You have to cut every step with an axe. Only with incessant labor in cutting an chipping can you make any progress. If you want to know how to backslide, leave off going forward. Cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity. You can never stand still." C.S.