Place

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

-Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NRSV)

            The little patch of earth tucked between Holland Lake and Holland Lake Golf Course is where I resided for the first eighteen years of my life.  It is there where I have many memories, both good and bad.  In the strip of land astride M-66 from Anderson’s Orchard in the north to Klinker Corner in the south I lived the balance of my first eighteen years of life.  These were places in which the foundation of who I am was laid, where I was initially shaped and formed.  As a child, it for the most part defined my world, yet occasional trips to exotic locales such as Ionia or Muskegon hinted at a larger world than what my eyes could see.  Though I have not lived there in well nigh a decade, I will always hold it in my heart. 

One aspect of my identity and personal journey that it taught me was the importance of place.  Where we live and reside shapes and forms us in ways we may not be aware of in the moment.  I am sure that my close to nine years living in Holland has shaped me in ways that I do not presently comprehend.  Living in the same house for the first eighteen years of life taught me the importance of setting down roots somewhere and being shaped by where God has put you.  I must admit that Sheridan sometimes seems a foreign land in a way and I do not believe I will return there to live.  Yet living there imprinted on my soul the desire to go and set down roots somewhere, letting those roots grow deep and strong in some plot of soil. 

That plot of soil will most likely be outside of that Promised Land I see Michigan as.  I am loathe to leave this state.  I love its friendly people, the lakes, the culture, the many natural wonders that grace this state, the sunsets over the Lake on a summer’s eve.  It may very well be that I shall soon go into exile, but it’s not a bitter or hopeless exile like it was for the Israelites.  There is a sense of hope in this new beginning that has not yet manifested itself.  Jeremiah was speaking to the Israelites in Babylon.  Jeremiah was also speaking to me I think as well.  If God does indeed call me elsewhere, it is not for me to go into mourning.  Instead, I should seek the welfare of the city or town or village or hamlet that God sends me to.  It is to do kingdom work there and that is hardly exile.

 

The passage reminds us in another way of the importance of place.  As Christians, we need to be invested in the place where we live.  We need to seek after its betterment, for in that way we ourselves are made better.  We are to pray for it and its people.  We should be civically active and seek to better our community.  We should set down deep roots as well, planting gardens (literally and figuratively), and raising our families.   Jeremiah gives some important words for me to remember as I go where I may not initially want to go.  I have a hunch that the next place God sends me will also shape me in ways I cannot yet imagine or understand.  It will be exciting to see where that leads.  I do not yet know where that may be, be it near or far from where I currently live, yet it is fully my intent to go all in, set down roots and become part of the story of the people who reside there and let them enter into my story as well. 

May it be that when God calls me elsewhere, it will be a bittersweet parting.  Bitter in that I leave those I hold close to my heart, sweet in that a new chapter of life will soon begin.  I say this not in a cavalier manner, but it is truly what I intend to do.