The Value of Staying Put

Today's religion column for the Tribune & Georgian is on stability. Even for those who have to move every few years for work, stability is possible. The article says in part:

A generation ago, Camden County was a much more stable place. The people you went to school with, worked with and went to church with were the grandchildren of the people with whom your grandparents had done the same. There were exceptions, but mostly you knew the measure of a man or woman because you knew their people and their people knew yours.

Today, Camden County is a much more transient community. By necessity, many people leave our county every year due to a military or other job transfer, while many others arrive. There is nothing to bemoan here. It is a fact of life.

Yet, we can let the transient nature of the community effect other areas of life. We can come to look at the greener grass on the other side of the fence and long for those pastures, rather than our own.

For example, someone can look at his husband or her wife and think that it is time for the upgrade. The struggles in the marriage can seem like too much and it would be easier to let the marriage die and then move on to later find another person who doesn’t have all those faults of your spouse. The only problem with that plan is whoever you marry next will still be married to you.

This is just one example, but the same can be true for friendships, jobs, church, and even a club or volunteer organization. In time, any relationship may seem like it needs to come to an end. First, I should acknowledge that this is true. If your spouse is abusing you or your children. Set down the newspaper now and set about leaving. If your job is neither fulfilling nor meeting your family’s financial needs, then finish this column and flip back to the classifieds.

But for the rest of us, who are just grumpy, but not abused, there may be something else going on here.

The full text of the religion column is online here: The Value of Staying Put.