Free to Roam

Vaccinations and self-restraint helped free us from Covid. We are no longer restrained by rules and lockdowns. We are free to roam.  

Roaming means to wander or travel around without a purpose or a direction in mind. We can once more take up meandering, rambling, and traipsing about the world. But do we want to go back to that kind of time-wasting? Do we want to give up the values we rediscovered in lockdown? Lockdown kept money in our pockets, gas in our cars, and family togetherness. We used our imaginations to be where we wanted to be.

 I remember fondly a poem from grade school called One, Two Three, by Henry Cuyler Bunner, 1855 – 1896) The poem told the story of a young crippled boy, who played hide and seek while sitting under a tree with his aged granny. They traveled everywhere with their imagination. They had three guesses to find one another, yet they never stirred an inch.

Should you take up roaming in the same old ways, I pray God finds you where you are and gathers you in again.

“‘God says: I myself am the shepherd. I’m going after my sheep. I’ll rescue them from all the places they’ve been scattered. I’ll feed them. I’ll lead them into the lush pasture. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I’ll go after the lost, collect the strays, doctor the injured, build up the weak ones, and oversee the strong ones so they’re not exploited.”

(From Ezekiel 34:11-16, MSG)