No Place Like Home
Shereen made my day the other weekend when she suggested that we watch The Wizard of Oz. I'm usually the one suggesting the old musicals, so I was very excited that we got to put it on and enjoy it!
I've watched that movie dozens of times, so I think I know it back to front, but it kind of came across differently this time. I don't think I've watched it for a few years now, and as usual, my brain jumped into drawing life lessons out of the story and I want to share those with you this week. A little bit different, I know, but stay with me.
The Journey Away From Home
The story, if you don't know, is about Dorothy, a young girl who leaves her family farm because things are not going so well. And then this big twister comes and she bumps her head and wakes up in a strange land called Oz and wants to find her way back home to Kansas.
She meets some friends along the way who are also looking for different things, and they all need to go to the Wizard to find what they're looking for. That's what they're told - the Wizard of Oz will be able to get you what you're looking for!
So Dorothy is looking for a way home. She's realized that she's lost it. All she wants is to go home. This reminded me of Jesus' story of the prodigal son, who also left home in a bit of a huff, went and did his own thing, and then at some point realized, I need to get back home.
I think all of us, at some point in our lives, leave home, so to speak, home being the place where God is. Perhaps the whole point of the Bible is that God seeks those who have left home to draw them back home to His presence, where they can be loved and where they can heal and find redemption.
Looking in the Wrong Places
So Dorothy goes looking for the wizard because she's told the wizard will help you, and when she finally does find the wizard, he can't help her. He can't get her back home. I thought as I watched this, that this is so true of many of us – we look in the wrong places. We try to find our healing or our redemption in the wrong people or the wrong sources.
By the end of the movie, Dorothy's told that all she had to do was click her heels a few times because she had some magic slippers on and say to herself, “there's no place like home”, and she would find her way back to Kansas.
The Power to Return Home
Maybe there's a sense in which we too can find our way home quite quickly. We don't need to tap our heels together, but maybe we need to put our hands together and pray and say, “Lord, there's no place like home. There's no place like being in Your presence.”
The prodigal son realized that it was in his power to actually come back home, if he would repent and humbly come back to the Father. And so he did it.
I wonder if you're in a place where you've actually strayed a bit and you're far from home. The Father longs for you to come back. Don't go looking for wizards or for others who can lead you home. Don't go looking in the wrong places for things that might make you feel better. Simply put your hands together, call out to the Father and say, there's no place like home. I don't deserve it, but I'm coming.
And then, just like the prodigal son found out, the Father, as He sees you turn and come back home, will run out and meet you and throw His arms around you and welcome you back home.
