I took the long way home more than once in my life.
There were seasons where I told myself I'd come back once I had it figured out — once I could walk back in without having to explain where I'd been. I didn't realize I was adding distance the whole time I thought I was just being careful.
What I didn't expect was that nobody was standing at the door with their arms crossed when I finally did come back. I'd built up a whole speech in my head — the explanation, the apology, the case for why I deserved a second look. I never got to finish it. He was already running.
That's the part I still can't fully explain to people. It wasn't that I earned my way back. It was that the distance mattered less to Him than it mattered to me.
I'm not the same person who left, and I'm also not finished being made into who I'm supposed to be next. Both of those things are true at the same time, and I've stopped needing them not to be.
If you've taken the long way too — however long, however many detours — I want you to hear this the way I needed to hear it: the door was never locked.
🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2u435ahmMXaW8hM91PU6jb?si=de161bcd0bdd43b6 🎧 Listen on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-jdot-five-the-long-way-home/pl.u-kv9lRRVT7A7Dbo
