Full Circle
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Nestled in the Hudson Valley, approximately 90 miles north of New York City, is my home town of Hyde Park. Except for a year of early marriage adventure (when my bride and I lived in Florida) I have lived here my entire life (to date anyway!).
I’m a free range, organic type of person. I usually don’t fit well into a box or a formulaic pattern of doing things… it just doesn’t work for me.
For years this town didn’t work for me.
I was an outcast to most… the poverty I grew up in kept me from social success (whatever that is). The abuse I suffered at home stunted my personality and kept me in the shadows. I existed on the edges, roaming the outer rims of life, hoping for a chance to be accepted. The dream of leaving this place of curses was always present but always teasing me with false expectations. I knew I wasn’t going… anywhere.
Then Messiah came.
If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Living on the edge took on a whole new meaning, it wasn’t meaningless exile… it was the adventure of discovering who I really was. The desperate years of wanting escape has been replaced by a love for the town that seemed bent on my ruin.
Here I am… full circle.
Tonight I give the invocation at the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce meeting. I get the honor of praying a blessing over the town that once held nothing but curses for me. Over influential movers and shakers of my small community, I get to impart words of life… the Messiah’s words.
Would you join me in that prayer?
Comments
I will join you in prayer.
Your post reminds me of my own past. I hated the small town I grew up in, but as I'm getting older I long for it. Only God knows if He will one day bring me back there...I think I'd appreciate it now.