Note: On Tuesdays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
They were less than righteous people, the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were immoral, self-absorbed, violent, threatening 
to violate total strangers just to debase them. God wasn’t inclined to believe any of them were worthy of salvation, though He relented a bit thanks to Abraham’s impassioned bargaining. Finally, the visiting angels helped Lot, his wife, and their two daughters out of town. They were on the way to safety—but Lot’s wife had to look back. You know what happened next.
It is so easy to sit in judgment of the woman. Surely, she had to have heard the screams, felt the wind, smelled the burning flesh. What made her turn around? Morbid curiosity?
I’d like to think not. I’d like to think that there had been good times in Sodom too, women with whom she chatted as their children played together, friends with whom she shared joy and pain, laughter and tears. It’s hard to leave even the worst of situations when you’re not sure where you’re going.
I think the people and places I loved at one point or another but simply weren’t part of the Lord’s plan for me, regardless of how much I treasured them. They may have been less than righteous… but all too often, I am as well. I still think about them from time to time, but as fond memories, not as a life I burn to return to. I’m beyond grateful for the times that when I did look back, the Lord managed to turn my face toward Him. And I pray He’s done so for those I left behind.
