Stranger in a strange land

"You have here no place of long abiding, for wherever you have come you are but a stranger and a pilgrim, and never will find perfect rest until you are fully joined to God." - Thomas a Kempis

I've lived long enough to see the truth of that statement. It refers, of course, not just to your physical/geographic location, but also to the circumstances of your life.

And, well, it's true. I have lived in many places in my time here, and while some of them seemed like Shangri-la for a moment, like someplace that I would never want to leave, the truth of the matter is that they have all been not much than an "extended stay" hotel (although, admittedly, some of the stays were quite extended). I love the movie, "Lost Horizon", but the truth is that there is no place on Earth that is paradise - the Garden of Eden vanished a long, long time ago. Bermuda and Ireland are both unceasingly beautiful, but there's simply no place one can go that can still the restlessness in our hearts. Our search for Shangri-la is bound to be frustrating, as we are searching for something that simply does not exist in this life

The same is true of our life circumstances - relationships, work, etc. How unfathomably rich we would be if we just had a dime for every time that someone thought to themselves, "I would be completely happy forever is I just had..." - and finish the sentence with the name of a person, a job, whatever. Well, I've been fortunate enough to secure more than one "dream job", and even to marry my "dream girl" (of course, I subsequently managed to screw that up) - I even got my dream CAR!...but none of those things magically banished all pain and struggle from my existence.

The simple truth is that no matter how we labor to construct ourselves a "home" in this life, we will never truly feel completely at home and at ease in this world of shadows that we are merely passing through like passengers on a ship. If you have trouble believing this, take away the small, but significant, snippet of Truth that can be found in "entertainment news" - If movie stars, who can build their dream house, live anywhere they wish, who have their choice of companions more so than most people anyway, and who have their dream job...if they are unable to construct themselves an earthly castle strong enough to protect themselves from suicidal depression - then is it at all realistic to think that anyone can do such a thing? No. We are indeed pilgrims, and have here "no place of long abiding", for the very Earth upon which we tread is itself a thing passing away...