To Return?

I haven't blogged in such a long time, but I always think of doing it.  Each time I think about writing a blog, I get overwhelmed by the fact it's been so long.  Where do I even begin? Can I write a short blog even though I haven't written an update?  How do I even begin to write an update?  How do I keep it short yet properly update people on things?  I always have a good thought, but then when I go to sit down, I lose it.  So rather than writing a blog, I talk myself out of it and put it on my mental list for "another day." You know... like one day.

Today as I was thinking through this process yet again, it got me thinking of other people who want to return to something yet aren't sure where to begin.  Maybe it's a broken relationship that they want to ammend.  Or after walking out of the house years ago, they long to go back but aren't sure what they will find.  Then there are the people who have left the Church for one reason or another.  After many years, the longing for God aches their heart. They want to go back to church yet aren't sure how.  They fear the stares of being new or maybe even worse being remembered. What would they say? How would they even begin? The insecurity rises and so often returning is put off for "another day." You know... like one day.

Why do we let these fears and insecurities engulf us?  Holding us back like a leash around our neck? When we feel the pull, we stop and turn back.  Never returning to that in which we left.  The longing is still there, but the fear stops us.

The thing I have learned about fear is that it can't kills.  Fear itself can't even hurt us.  All it can do is hank on our heart and then we stop.  But what makes up this leash?  This leash that stops us from returning. It's often not returning that we fear.  But maybe the real fear is the fear of others.  What will they think? How will they act? What might they say?  I wonder if the majority of our insecurities are wrapped up in others... What the may think, act or say.

But what if we untied the leash around our necks and lived in the freedom God called us to.  What if we had a new master? One who doesn't place a leash around our necks, but instead allows us to live freely without a collar or a rope.  A master who knows us and calls us by name.  We know where to go because we know our masters voice.  And what if our master calls us to return and we were able to do so freely without the leash of fear or insecurities wrapped around our heart.  To return with a sense of peace and freedom and a knowledge of who we belonged to.  What if this was how we were to return not like one day but rather today?!