dailydatewithgod

Safety is one of our basic needs as human beings.  It is something we understand at a visceral level.  Many fears come down to a lack of safety.  Love cannot grow in a space where one does not feel safe. We tend to play off this idea of needed refuge because we think of it in terms of a particular construct.  Child safety, workplace safety, safe conversations are all examples of specific areas we recognize the principle.  The reality is the world cannot provide the refuge we seek.  We look to others and situations to tell us we are okay.  We seek out experiences where we can feel certain because it gives us the illusion of safety.  As an incest survivor, I can tell you that growing up, I felt something was missing.  I could not put words to it until I found myself as an adult putting words to it.  My sense of safety was very mixed and my experience unstable.  I did not find refuge at home, except at certain times or in certain situations.  I eschewed my sense of personal safety to convince myself I was okay.  I did find refuge at school and church where the rules and expectations were laid out clearly and I knew what would get approval.  We all have our own unique experiences of lack of safety.  It is part of the human experience to know what it is like to lack the refuge we seek.  In those moments is the opportunity to turn our attention to the place within ourselves where our true safety and refuge lie.  It is as though life conspires by calling us to what is present for us we would not otherwise look for. It is the space of our hearts where God’s truth of who we are lives and breathes in light.  In the space deep within us there is the knowledge that no matter how unstable the sense of safety is outside of us, we can find refuge in our connection to something greater.  It takes time to cultivate a relationship with something that stands in contradiction to the physical world we see with our eyes.  Yet we are just as wired to find refuge within as we are to seek for it outside of ourselves.  We can design safe spaces, have safe conversations but we cannot block everything outside of us that might cause the need for refuge. We can ask ourselves, what greater refuge can exist than the knowledge we are wholly loved and innocent no matter what is going on outside?