Anywhere But Where I Am

By Cynthia Ruchti

Alanna ran through the concourses to her gate, and then sat for nearly an hour waiting for the attendant at the desk to call her name from among the dozen other stand-bys hoping to get on that plane. She eyed the gates near hers. Denver. Detroit. Dallas. Des Moines. Duluth. All the “D” locations. Any one of them would do.

“Alanna Blake?”

She barely caught the announcement above the din of stir-crazy toddlers and people mid-conversation on their cell phones. “I’m sorry, Ms. Blake. This flight is full. All passengers have checked in. We have another flight later this afternoon, but prospects are iffy for that one as well.” “The destination doesn’t matter. Can you get me on a flight to…what’s boarding for other locations right now?” The gate attendant looked up from her computer. “Where are you headed?” “Anywhere but where I am.”

The voice of desperation. Isn’t that too often the discontent we exhibit when we long to be anywhere but here?

I’m a stay-at-home mom but all I can think about is the paycheck I could be earning. I’m bringing in a good paycheck but all I can think about is the events I’m missing out on in my kids’ lives. I’m twenty but wish I were forty, sixty and wish I were twenty. I’m following my teens to their events and have no free time to myself. I’m widowed and jobless and in ill health with an excess of time to consider how much I don’t want to be here.

We plan financially as best we can. We make choices today that will have positive impact tomorrow. We allow for growth and development. We dream.

For me, magazine, radio, and book deadlines force me to “live” months and even years down the road in one compartment of my brain. But if my joy is tied to those future moments, if I want to be “anywhere but where I am,” I may miss God’s Presence in the present. Joy is current. Not “after I get married” or “as soon as I get a good job” or “when these kids are grown and out of the house” or “as soon as I’m healed.”

That’s part of the wonder of God’s Presence. He is here, now, no matter where I am, no matter where I’d rather be.

PRAYER: Father God, Lord of my life, I don’t want to miss a moment with You. Open my eyes to see You in the present, in where I am today. You are what I like about it.

“In Your presence is fullness of joy,” Psalm 16:11 KJV.

Today’s devotional is by Cynthia Ruchti, writer and producer of the radio ministry THE HEARTBEAT OF THE HOME and current president of American Christian Fiction Writers. Cynthia’s debut novel—They Almost Always Come Home—releases from Abingdon Press in Spring 2010. Cynthia writes stories of hope that glows in the dark. www.cynthiaruchti.com.