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Maybe running away is the right thing to do
None of us like to think of ourselves as someone who would back down from a fight. I was raised as many of us in a culture filled with music and movies about coming out swinging when your back is against the wall. We look at the threat in front of us and decide that we will not be afraid; we will fight with whatever cobbled together resources we can.
We make our stand. We fight.
“Do not be afraid,” the angel said.
But … what if leaving, what if running away, is the best next step.
The gospel reading for today begins:
Now after they [the magi] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Matthew 2:13
So should I now be afraid? I guess that isn’t exactly what the angel said this time. But the instruction was clear: get up and go.
Flee.
Leave.
Because maybe … there are times when running is the right thing to do.
Clinically, I know that there are times when internally we have to retreat, to step back from the painful thoughts and memories, away from the challenging…
