Safety Dance

The princess loves to be all snuggled up, she surrounds herself with soft objects of security like stuffed animals and her favorite blankets. This was very true in the car these past few days as we made our way from St. Paul, MN to The Dalles, OR. Even though she had very little room in her corner of the car, she still wanted at least two blankets, two lambs and a dog to keep her company in the back seat.

I too like to surround myself with security, however I find that safety and security in people. Preparing to leave Minnesota felt like a constant removal of another layer of snuggled-up security. In that final week not a day passed without spending time with some really important people, getting one last hug and saying goodbye – ah, security blankets! One by one, the security blankets have come off.

On Sunday morning we packed up the car with some SERIOUS help from my Dad, Sarah and Mandy (via Skype from Green Bay, WI). My eyes tend to glaze over when there is a task like how to efficiently pack up all my belongs into the car or how to best secure the car carrier on-top of the car. This is where the gifts of my Dad, Sarah and Mandy (via Skype from Green Bay, WI) really shine...they were diligent, careful and totally took over the task (which I am eternally grateful for, I mean really, who sacrifices their Sunday morning to pack my car...did I mention Sarah was graduating from seminary later that day?!?) Yep, that was a really good security blanket.

Then we spent some time with the Fargo-family. Home-cooked food, snuggles with the niece and nephew and we were off for the wild, wild west. My last security blanket was removed and I was all too aware of the exposure and vulnerability I felt as I drove the princess and all our luggage west out of Fargo. The sky was dark...I mean scary, ominous and dark on Memorial Day morning. I suddenly didn't feel like driving, I didn't want everything in the car carrier to get drenched and I was pretty sure the whipping wind was going to pick us up and land us in a ditch in the middle of no-wheres-ville North Dakota. I had a moment where I wanted to turn the car around and felt like screaming “I want my blankies back!”.

Then a Bible verse popped into my head, it was Psalm 62 which was read at Micaela's baptism and has been endlessly helpful and encouraging to me these past five years.

“For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

He alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress,

I shall never be shaken.”

I deeply believe that God has given me every single security blanket (person) that I have in my life...we are so, so blessed and thankful. However, there is a time for these blankets to be removed so that I might remember the One who is my ultimate security and protection. So as we drove west out of Fargo Micaela and I sang Psalm 62 …

“my stronghold, my Savior, I shall not be afraid at all,

my stronghold, my Savior, I shall not be moved.”

(In other news, we are safely in The Dalles, OR! We had a lovely welcome by some members of the church, our house is really cute and the yard is amazing. The princess and the pastor survived three days of driving with no real problems (ok, I did get pulled over once)– of course, ending every day with a dip in the hot tub makes it a lot easier.)