That’s the question I get a lot. And honestly, you realize that after you’ve been home awhile, it can be like you never left. All the comforts come back to you, your body and mind remember what it was like to always have a real bed to sleep in, delicious food to eat, activities that fill up your day; there’s always something to do.
Thankfully, for me, it’s like I’m on vacation. I came straight back to MI and I’ve been here since Sunday. It’s been good so far, saw some family and friends, three nights I slept 12 hours each, I’ve watched a lot of TV, and drive a bit. For the record, driving is just like riding a bike: it always comes back to you. I was driving the first day I was home and it was amazing.
However, the same thing I love is the thing that worries me. This coming straight back to comfort thing; it’s too easy to fall back into it. And that is just no good. Comfort, by definition a good thing, however, it’s when we never leave the zone of comfort that we become self-absorbed and unable to think past anything but ourselves.
So, how do I go from where the WR to “real life” and make it all work. How do I integrate who I am into the world. How do I live in the world but not be of the world. That scripture has never been more applicable than it is now. And, unfortunately, I can’t say that I know how to finesse it. I don’t know the best way to live, and I know that millions of others have had to figure out how to do the same thing, both in the past and now. And it’s not going to be any easier in the future for people.
It’s a very fine line. It means being intentional. It means being conscious of my thought patterns, my actions, my desires, my needs and hopes. It’s me reading my bible often, not neglecting it or God for something else. It’s remembering that God is the pie crust and not just a small slice of the pie; He hold everything together, He’s a part of everything.
I have been changed, and most times I can’t imagine what it would be like to be the same person that I was. But, sometimes… Well, sometimes it’s easy to remember why I enjoyed being who I once was; it easy to remember why it was so nice to be comfortable, to think of no one other than myself. But, now that I’ve been changed, I have a responsibility to live out of my differences now. And, more than responsibility, I have a desire to live a changed life. They say ignorance is bliss, and it can be if that’s all you’ve ever known, the problem comes once you have stepped outside the ignorance zone. When that happens, ignorance is no longer bliss, it’s a sickness, it is blight. And it’s repulsive. Ignorance is the most frustrating thing I’ve ever encountered. It is the one thing that I want to change about people, myself included.
