For the Days Social Media Makes You Think You Can’t Soar at Home

I sat down to enjoy a moment to myself. Minutes later, I found myself scrolling through photo after photo on Instagram. There were beach sunsets and cityscapes I’d never seen in real life. People embracing others from different cultures, with feet deep in their far-off homelands. Scenes from a life of globe-trotting.

I admit I got lost in it all, questioning my calling and wondering whether I could have been a globe-trotter…whether things would have been different if I made some different decisions.

But with one blink, I found my way out of that cloud of doubt. Words came to mind, similar to those Job spoke to the Lord when he confessed his lack of knowledge and to uttering things he didn’t understand, before repenting.

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted,” he said.

In an instant, I remembered that my life shouldn’t be full of desire for what someone else has, much less how well a filtered photo makes their life appear. I remembered that God has a purpose and a plan for me, right where I am. And I remembered what I’ve spent the much of the last two and half years believing: that though I am at home, I am doing exactly what I am called to do in this season.

And so, I was inspired to write this for the days when social media makes you think you can’t be called to soar at home, right where you are:

Soar

You stare,
with a heart longing to soar,
to ride along the beams of light
flowing from the sun.
You imagine perching
where those beams of heaven
meet dry earth.
The destinations seem endless.
Far and wide.
Distant.

But you are home.

You are a soul secretly watching,
waiting to fly,
to move away from home.
With a world telling you,
“There, you can do more”
with the gifts God wrapped
and presented
you.

But as the sun sets.
The beams fade
along a vista
of bare trees and blue sky;
each branch climbing toward
the Great Unknown.
Take hold
of that beauty.
The endurance
of each tree limb.
The strength of weighty trunks
with roots firmly planted.
His workings are everywhere.
Each designed.
And placed.
With purpose in mind.

And here too,
at home.

The winged bird
isn’t the only creation
to know
and proclaim
His glory.
Those here with us
know it.
And they, too,
can be called
to soar.

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