Article July 7, 1980 ISSUE

Get away from it all?

H. MARIANNE SCHMIDT

We have probably all harbored this desire at one time or another. The Psalmist voiced it this way: "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." Ps. 55:6; Unthinkingly we suppose that turning our back on unhappy situations could be the solution. But such a course of action would tend only to allow our difficulties to increase and so prolong their appearance. Wherever we went, we would be taking along with us an unhealed belief in the reality of discord.

So running away is not the answer. Then, what is? Elsewhere the Psalmist gives a resounding reply: "In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" 11:1; The reward of such trust is knowing that God is sheltering, delivering, and preserving us—right where we are.

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