REFLECTIONS

Scattered

Home is hundreds of miles away. At least it once was home. Home is the place I grew up. It is the place my mother and dad brought me into this world, nurtured me, protected me, taught me, showed me, and prepared me to go forth with life. They gave me love; they showed me the value of good friends, and the importance of family. Home was the place I learned the basics of life, the place I first discovered the miracle of birth, tasted some of life’s harsh realities, and witnessed the starkness of death. And it was there I was led to the love of Jesus Christ.

Time has placed distance between what was home then and the place called home today. Along with friends and family around me back then, we scattered and established new homes, raised our own families, and nurtured them much as we had been nurtured. And now our families are scattering too.

Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world, and they scattered through all the lands to carry the good news of the risen Christ. Wherever they went they revealed the love of Jesus to all they met; they showed them the value of good friends and the importance of family. They told them about the miracle of rebirth, comforted those facing life’s harsh realities, and taught them that death has been overcome. Then those they taught scattered too, taking with them all they had been told.

Home is the place where the perspective of life is formed and values found through such teachers as parents, grandparents, friends, employers, and even strangers who pass through. Today I look at where home once was and it is not there anymore. Home was a place of preparation to go forth with life—a place to be scattered from to carry the message wherever God placed me to be.

Now I see my own family scattered from the place they once called home. They build their own homes, bring up their own families, and prepare their children for the life ahead. And they tell the story. Some tell the story in stylish ways, others tell the story through the way they live, the symbols they wear, the love they give, or the help they offer. But everyone in their own way is telling the story of the love of Jesus Christ wherever they may be. And those who hear it will someday be scattered too.

It is the way God designed for the message to be told.

 You are the light of the world,

Richard+

 www.reflectingthesavior.org

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