Tired Of Running Away? Come Home!
Running away will never make you free.
I really don’t remember what sparked this feeling one summer day, but I remember somehow feeling like I was being treated unfairly by my parents. (This seems pretty crazy to me now that I’m a parent to two teenagers, and I have incredible respect for my parents today.) Instead of working it out with my parents, I decided to run away.
I didn’t pack up my belongings or say good-bye. I didn’t leave a letter explaining my departure. I simply walked (or ran) out of the yard and down the street. I walked out of the neighborhood and turned towards the busy road at the edge of town. I kept walking and walking and walking. Eventually, I found myself walking the long way back home.
I wish I could remember all the crazy thoughts that went through my head during my two or three hours as a runaway. I wish I could remember my homecoming. I can only assume my parents knew I would come back home.
We run away from home for many reasons and through a variety of methods. We run away from a painful past. We run away from conflict. We run away from fear. We run away by filling our schedules with all kinds of activities in hopes to keep us distracted from the reality we don’t want to face. We run away through escapes of drugs, alcohol, television, food, and pornography. And we run away severing ties with family and friends – the people we need the most.
Despite the tendency to run away, we are called back home.
Home is where we are welcomed back just as we are with open arms.