Leave.

"....my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children at play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?

It might be time for you to go. It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.

I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed." -Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts

And so I find myself. On the cusp of doing just this: leaving.

It's bittersweet. In some ways, it's devastating. Thinking about leaving my family who has done nothing but overwhelm me with grace and goodness. And my friends-like-family who have laughed, cried, eaten, slept, and prayed alongside me. Who have challenged me and encouraged me and inspired me to live the good life. Imagining a tough day when I can't walk to the Union Starbucks for a comforting arm around my shoulder and life-giving words of affirmation. Wondering where I'll go when I just want to let down and "be." I'm leaving so much more than a city on a map.

But at the same time, it's glorious. It's freedom. It's adventure. A chance to shake out complacency and start fresh. A chance to experience new people and new ways of doing and being. A chance to climb mountains and waterfalls, for crying out loud. A chance to experience God anew. When I'm lonely, He will be my Friend, and we will go on this adventure together. After all, He goes far beyond the cornfields of Northwest Ohio. Not to mention, going to school for the things about which I am most passionate. Loving people. Seeking Truth. Knowing God.

So, my dear friends. I invite you to join me on this journey. I don't promise that it won't be messy. I don't promise it will all be mountaintop experiences (pun fully intended.) But it will be good. God will be good. And we will meet again, somewhere, someday. We'll have stories to swap. Some things will be as they have been. Other things will change. But we'll embrace the journey together as we wait on this side of heaven.