“Better test the motor,” my grandfather says…
I hear his feet go quickly down the stairs to the basement…
Then his heavier tread, as he struggles back up the stairs, lugging the old outboard motor with him.
I am only six years old, but I know why he is testing the motor…
We’re going to the lake…
That was a week ago…
Now in the back seat of the car, I watch as the scene along the road changes…
Towns and gas stations and roadside diners disappear…
Replaced by fields…
Then the fields vanish…
Replaced by an ancient pine forest.
The car slows.
The blinker clicks as my grandfather signals a left turn.
We are off the highway, driving down a two-lane road…
Moving deeper and deeper into the forest…
Leaving the world behind …
The slight grade becomes steep.
Up we go…till the car crests the rise…
The front end tilting down until finally I see it spreading out below us…
The lake.
We are leaving the world behind …
Every August, my grandfather goes out on that lake and like Ahab searching for the great white whale, casts his line for the Mythical Muskie…
“Be careful when we bring him into the boat,” my grandfather says, confident this will be the year he catches a Muskie…
“Muskie have teeth. They bite.”
I picture a Muskie thrashing in the bottom of the boat…
His jaws snapping shut on a six-year-old hand.
I soon learn I don’t need to worry…
We catch plenty of Bass and Perch and Northern Pike …but no Muskies.
I relax in the boat…
Cast my line into the water…
And listen…
To the waves against the side of the boat…
To the wind in the trees of a nearby island…
To the honks of a flock of geese as they fly overhead…
Leaving the world behind …
Leaving the world behind was easy when I was six years old.
Leaving the world behind is so much more difficult now…
I carry the world and its worries in my mind and my heart wherever I go.
If only I could remember the words of Jesus …
…you don’t belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind… John 15:19
Then I would know his peace…
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
I would remember his assurance…
…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
And the promise of God…
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
And I would know that one day it will be easy to leave the world behind.
Note: This post first appeared on June 19, 2015. I repeat it once a year for the childhood memories it brings from the past, and the promise it proclaims about the future.
3 thoughts on “Leaving The World Behind”
This is a profound thought- leaving the world was so much easier as children. Now, we’ve absorbed so much of the world, that it’s painful when we try to separate ourselves from it. Thanks for this reminder that I don’t belong here… no matter what the enemy tells me. Great post!
It’s interesting to watch the youngest and oldest members of our family. We all work so hard to integrate out children into the world… We cheer them on as they become part pf the world…
Then I watch the oldest family members who begin leaving the world behind long before they actually depart…
Whether they are separated by physical decline or by a reorientation of their hearts and minds towards what is eternal…
There is a symmetry to the whole process, and a meaning which I don’t totally understand.
As a Child one is fearless, can jump out of the crib and be dependent on Dad, Mom or whoever is bringing us up to catch us.
Now this dependency disappears in due time as when we fall and get harmed not knowing as we are, were completely dependent on Mom in the womb for approx. nine months before grown enough to come into this world, to be taught truth from error.
And so we are born here dependent 100% on Mom who brought us into this world. Mom for 9 months, fed us automatically, loved us while in her womb.
She lived for us, spoke for, walked for us, she did everything for us as we grew up in the womb.
Then we are born here and we got everything needed we needed as we cried not knowing anything else but to cry to get, and for two years approx. got everything we needed for life and Godliness.
Now this is not true in all cases I know many abused from conception on.
So one day, whether from conception on, we are left to make it on our own. How so?
The first day od confrontation of Authority when we are told no. Wait a minute lets view this from the Child’s perception fro a minute or two.
He / She hears NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the first time and in this Child’s mind WHAT??????????????? he responds in crying over no and smack on his/ her hand
And The Child is for the first time not able t get as wanted all the time prior, fed when cried, diaper changed when cried.
So what is wrong with teaching the Child NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
We are trying to make this child dependent when this and all Children are born dependent 100% dependent in the womb of Mom
How can anyone be independent in truth when first born dependent?
How about to see this, instead of trying to make a person anyone independent, why not ask God how to be inner-dependent on God period?