Travel Thoughts

“Let us move on to the neighboring villages so that I may proclaim the good news there also. That is what I have come to do.” Mark 1, 29-39

I like the sense of movement in the Gospels – Jesus moving from day to day, village to village, from one group to another, one human need to another. There is no indication that he had a need to plan things out ahead of time. He seemed to go from place to place as he wanted or needed to do so.

Most of us do not have the freedom to hit the road as such, to branch out in whatever direction we would like. We are in our jobs, our relationships, our vows and marriages. These and other commitments keep our circle of movement fairly predictable and given. We are then involved in a different kind of movement – not one of miles or villages, but of relationships responsibilities.

“Grace” may be a word that has fallen out of fashion or usage. I think its meaning is still as real as it was when the word was more in vogue. Grace is that special gift of God’s own life within us. Grace is relationship with God. And grace is therefore the life of the spirit as revealed through the gifts of joy, perseverance, patience, kindness, goodness, truth. These are gifts that enhance any life. Jesus moved from place to place and told of the grace of God that was at hand wherever he went. He offered the availability of knowing God’s love through loving. That is a good place to be, and no one of us has to travel very far to find it.