They were grumbling and saying,
“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
—Luke 15.2
The worst way of being lost isn’t
not knowing where you are
but knowing you’re in the wrong place:
feeling you don’t belong.
Righteous bullies will try to convince you
there’s no place for you.
Whatever it is about you they pick
it means you can’t be with us.
You belong elsewhere: nowhere.
Get lost.
Alas, poor frightened bullies,
there is no such thing.
Everyone belongs.
You have a place in this universe,
which was created with you in mind.
The world with no place for you
is an imaginary one.
The shepherd who doesn’t find you
isn’t yours.
You have a place of belonging in this world,
the lily in the pond, the note in the song,
and no one, no place, and no lack of place
can take it from you.
Beloved, you can lose your belongings
but you can’t lose your belonging.
You’re always in it.
You can’t get lost.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
September 13, 2019