Moving to a new town is both exciting and confusing. It takes time to find the best places to…
…see a movie
…eat Mexican food
…find breakfast at 9 p.m.
…hang out at a bookstore
…do all those things you used to do in your previous hometown.
Our family has a good bit of experience with this. We’ve moved 5 times in 15 years. Yikes! Even though I’ve lived that statistic, it still startles me. This morning, it hit me that one of the ways we cope is by matching up new faces and places with old ones. Today I saw a guy who looks a little like one my former congregation members and a woman who looks like one of the ballet moms from Springfield Dance
Making these visual connections, whether they are accurate or not, really does help. “See,” my mind tells me, “things are not so different. Look how familiar these people are. Don’t worry. You’re not lost.”
That’s really what I’m striving for after all – a sense of comfort, a feeling that all is well and all will be well. I need reassurance that I am NOT wandering about aimlessly lost. I think this is at the heart of much of the angst in this country: How can I make sense of this world? How can I find my way through this chaotic mess?
For now, I’m grateful for the little reminders – signs that point me in the right direction.
Improvisations 