where

All streams flow to the sea,
but the sea is never full;
to the place where the rivers flow,
there they continue to flow. – Ecclesiastes 1:7 (CEB)

What is it about the “w” that makes something as definitive as here become the abstract where? (Not to mention making the “e” sound like an “a”?) I looked up the etymology, but it offers no help.

Maybe we want anything but what we have here. Oh, there (now we’ve added a “t” to here) are fleeting moments we find joy or contentment. But mostly, we look to someplace or something else to find happiness. It could be in our wondering of “Where have all the good days gone?” or “Where will I be five years from now?”

It might be true that our here is not the place we are ultimately meant to be. And it might be true that our here is not the person we are ultimately meant to be.

But here is where we are.

Therefore, even if where is where we are meant to be, we have to start with here to get there. Here requires some soul-searching to find where. Here, where, or there: it all begins with prayer.

Faithful God, it is in both my weakness and my desire to please you that I am not content with where I am now. When it is my weakness, my desire for what others have or for an easy way from my current circumstances that I covet another place, help me to see how you are working in my here and now. Remove from me wanderlust that has nothing to do with seeking you. But when it comes from my desire to please you, to be transformed by you, show me the better way. Lead me to the place where I may know you more. You are the I AM in each place that I am. May my contentment always be in you. Amen.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. – 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NRSV)

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It’s Five Minute Friday which means the word prompt of the day and a five-minute free write.  You can read more great posts here.