One morning I started to read the weekly Bible Lesson found in the Christian Science Quarterly, which included Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11–24). At first I thought I’d just skip over that part, as I already knew the story so well. Then a second thought came: No, read it but look for fresh inspiration.

So I began reading, and soon this caught my attention: that the young man “took his journey.” This comes at the point in the story where he takes his inheritance and leaves his father and home for what he apparently thinks will be a better life.

A journey usually begins from home, which, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 58). So taking a journey is not necessarily bad, especially when we can learn from it. And when it’s over, we can return home, where so much of what we love and need is right there waiting for us.