Without
Like Bilbo returning from the Lonely Mountain, or like Odysseus from Troy, or Marlin from Sydney, we have returned home after a long time away.
It’s a strange thing to be gone for so long and then return to find that everything is different yet the same.
We left in summer and we’ve returned in fall. We missed the gradual change in the seasons, which is notable for us because this is our first autumn in this home. Seeing the difference so abruptly is a reminder of time’s gentle yet unrelenting touch.
Though time paused for us while we were away, it most definitely continued here. I saw one of my neighbors out walking, and I thought to ask him about the vacation he went on—two months ago—like he was the one that just got back. I didn’t ask, mostly because I didn’t want to confuse him. He’s surely on to other things.
Within
Like Bilbo, Odysseus, and Marlin, the most significant difference isn’t what’s happened without, but what’s happened within. We’re still the same, but we’re different.
It’s hard to describe, but our souls have aged through this experience. We’re more seasoned. We’ve been refined by fire. There’s depth that wasn’t there before. Our perspective has simultaneously focused and expanded. Through this adversity, our spiritual growth was accelerated.
Thankfully, in God’s grace, affliction need not be wasted on us. Through it, we know more of Jesus. Through it, He purposes to sanctify us.
Build Again
Unlike Bilbo, Odysseus, or Marlin, our return has not been a return to ease. We’re more like the Jews returning from exile in Babylon. There’s hard work to do. There are ruins to restore. There’s structure to rebuild in our home and there’s worship to rebuild in our lives. This is good work we’re made for (Eph. 2:10).
For us, there and back again was a hospital room. It wasn’t a grand adventure, at least not in the way we would typically think of them. But I expect eternity defines epics differently. We just need our spiritual eyes opened to see that the mundane acts of faithfulness done in this world are the mighty deeds of renown in the next.