I don’t belong here. I don’t belong there. Where do I belong?
I am pretty sure that many of you have wondered where you belong at some point in your life. Especially when you have been in a time of transition and upheaval. That time when you moved cities. Or moved jobs. Or perhaps when friendship circles change because of different circumstances - divorce, children growing up and moving out, even the death of a loved one.
Belonging is so much more important than we realise. It is vital to our wellbeing. We have to find our place to stand, our place of significance, our turangawaewae (in the Maori culture, a sense of identity with having a home base).
But what if we keep looking to the future, believing that we will settle once we are in that space? Will we continue to imagine what is yet to happen, while trying to tell ourselves that belongingness is intangible for now?
Eight months ago, our family moved from Auckland to the Selwyn district of Canterbury. We have been renting in a small but growing township called Lincoln. Our dream has been to build a home in Leeston, another twenty minutes south from where we are now. Two weeks ago we received an update from the building company on how the land development was progressing. The answer: slow. We never realized until we begun this whole process how long it takes to prepare the land and all of the infrastructure that goes with it! This was a new subdivision, so the timeline was going to be long and the titles were not going to be released for quite some time.
When I read the email and viewed the photos of the land, I had a sudden revelation that I was living in the future. I wasn’t living in the present. I was contemplating my life in Leeston. And I certainly wasn’t making any attempts to find my turangawaewae in Lincoln.
This led me to think about the here and now. Who was in my local community of Lincoln? Was I connecting with them? What was happening here? I didn’t belong to Leeston, but I certainly belonged to Lincoln. This was where God had planted us.
Called to settle
As I reflected on this, I thought about a group of people in the Bible, who were desperate to move on, but God told them to settle where they were, plant gardens, have children, and eventually, he would take them to a new place:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.” (Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 5)
Now we need to keep in mind that God was talking to his people who were in captivity in Babylon. They were in exile, and not in the best place obviously. Unlike myself, we are in a good place and God has called us here. But this spoke to me. Settle where you are right now. With what is in front of you at this moment. Know what is in your heart, but what has God placed within your hands? What opportunities await on your doorstep at this time?
Further on in Jeremiah 29, we read that infamous verse, “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” In a few verses God is saying, I have your future plans all worked out, trust in me and focus on the present. The present is where you belong.
It also goes on to say that he wanted his people to seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon. In the midst of their difficulties, God wanted them to radiate his presence to the Babylonians. And he wants us to be bringers of his hope, peace and love to the community we are currently in.
So perhaps we can minimise living in the future (even eternity!) and place our concentration on what is here and now. Then we will find belonging and connection within our local community.