sojourn: to live somewhere temporarily, a brief stay, visit. That’s what we humans are… sojourners. We are here for a brief stay before moving on to our permanent home. If you consider earth as your permanent home you’ll be in for a considerable shock. There is one of two places we will end up because we are made of spirit which goes on living forever.
If you are able to accept this definition and condition then I have a serious question for you… what are you doing with the time you are living on earth? There’s a great gospel song that says, ‘if I can help somebody as I pass this way then my living has not been in vain.’ I like that. That speaks to our task on earth – to help not hinder others. It gives us a daily focus to be aware of those around us that can use a helping hand.
Whenever I think of sojourners I see in my mind’s eye a person with a knapsack on his back (or backpack) walking along. The person may or may not be with others but there a sense of peace that exudes from him/her. He isn’t owned by possessions and probably has only the necessities of life in his pack, but he has all he needs. Yes, romantic and that lifestyle may not be that way but that mindset is incredibly freeing.
I’ve always believed that it’s quite alright to have possessions as long as they don’t have me. If I can appreciate and use the possession then excellent, but if I can’t live without it then there’s a problem. It’s far too easy to rely on the possession to ‘take care’ of those things we want. ‘Want’ is the operative word. When a want becomes a ‘need’ then we are moving into the realm of being possessed by our possessions. When we see that we are sojourners and things are merely there to assist us, then we can move in freedom.
