Ever feel like you’re missing out on something big, something important, something that everyone around you seems to know about and participate in except for you? I think this feeling even has a name – FOMO – fear of missing out. Yes, there is an acronym for everything. I wonder if FOMO is common enough these days that it has now risen to the level of a recognized malady, a malady that warrants some form of treatment, whether therapy or medicine.

The reason I bring this up is because I think I may be suffering from a form of FOMO, albeit a very specific subcategory – wanderlust. Wanderlust – “an irresistible urge to explore the world.” If I am honest, I must admit that I have suffered from wanderlust all my life. There is no cure, except perhaps travel. And that is what everyone except me seems to be talking about and doing these days – traveling. I am surrounded by people talking about their upcoming trips and those recounting the adventures from which they have just returned. I love to hear their stories, but this only increases my longing to see the world for myself, to experience its beauty and meet its people.

My being afflicted with wanderlust may explain my uncommon reaction to the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The first time I saw it, I spent the entire time rooting for George Bailey to get out of town and go on his long awaited, long planned, travel the world adventure. But circumstances would intervene and George would always stay to help out his family, his business and his town. I was frustrated. I felt for George. George never got to realize his life-long dream of traveling the world.

Years ago, I affixed a beautiful picture to a wooden plaque with these words on it, “though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it within us, or we will find it not.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) Emerson considered wanderlust a vice, not a virtue, although he did take into consideration the reason for one’s travel. He approved of travel to improve one’s character but said travel to escape one’s sadness or boredom was pointless, because these things stay with us no matter where we travel.

The apostle Paul was always wanting to travel. He had plans to visit many different places as his letters to various churches reveal. But Paul’s travel plans were often interrupted and put on hold when he was repeatedly thrown into prison for preaching the gospel. Of course, this was also the very reason Paul was wanting to travel. He was wanting to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, to those who had not yet heard because they lived in other lands. Paul didn’t have wanderlust. He had God’s call upon him to go and share the gospel with others.

Jonah was another person who did some traveling. However, unlike Paul, Jonah’s travel wasn’t towards something but was actually travel away from something. That’s right. Jonah was running away from God and from the assignment God had given him to go to the city of Ninevah and deliver a message from God to the people living there. Jonah’s travels took him to sea on a ship that was caught up in a storm and Jonah ended up in the belly of a big fish. I guess Jonah thought he could outrun God. But God’s word says differently. King David wrote these words –

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” (Psalm 139:7-10)

Whether my wanderlust is a search for God or an attempt to get away from Him, it is unnecessary and futile. God is omnipresent. I don’t have to travel to find Him and no matter where I travel, there is no where I can go where He is not present. I can enjoy God’s presence wherever I am. I don’t have to travel to some exotic place in order to feel close to Him. He’s already here with me. I don’t have to suffer from FOMO. I am not missing anything. God will use me for His good purposes wherever I am, if I am willing and obedient.

Paul fulfilled God’s good and eternal purposes from a prison cell. Jonah called upon God while inside a fish in the depths of the sea and promised to obey God’s instruction to him, this time. (talk about your second chances) Jesus told Peter to follow Him but told John to remain. I know many who are missionaries overseas, but we each are called to minister right where we are. It took an encounter with an angel to show George Bailey all the good that had happened because he had stayed and done what was needed to help his family and his friends.

You and I may not get the movie encounter with an angel, we just have to trust in faith that God is working out His perfect will in each of our lives. Paul wrote this in his letter to the church at Rome –

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

“In all things”. Ok. I guess that means “in all places, at all times” also? In spite of my wanderlust, I can know that what I long for, I already possess. I don’t need to go in search of an elusive “it.” My Heavenly Father’s glorious, sustaining Presence is the same everywhere and it is more than enough!

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)

I don’t have to travel far, I don’t have to travel at all in order to experience the wonder of God’s creation or of His presence. The wonder of the universe that is mine today far outweighs the wanderlust of the world. One lasts while the other fades. The former is eternal, the latter temporal.

sincerely, Grace Day