for lack of an original title

There is a unique peace to be found in coming home.
And when I say “home”, I do not mean that home is necessarily a place. Home will always be in a place, but it is not the place that makes it home.
No. When I say “home” I refer to the most precious people in my life. And in my case, home is more than one place, because the dearest people of my heart reside in more than one geographical location.
Now, I realize that not everyone would necessarily agree with this definition. But that is the beautiful thing about words like “home”. It is one of those that can be subjective to individual interpretation.

But I am home. I am in the home of my family. No matter which house this happens to be — and believe me, it has been many different “wooden boxes”, as my dad puts it — it is always home. Seven of the people dearest to my heart reside in this little-known town 1400 kilometres away from my other home.
But it is here, in the presence of my parents and siblings, that I find a rest and peacefulness that is unmatched by any I find elsewhere. Here I feel uniquely released to just live and let live. With each visit I am more overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for my family, for God’s grace in my family — which is increasingly evident to me — and for the privilege of belonging to these people. They love me in a way that I have never been and will never be loved by other human beings.
When I stop and think about it too much, I cannot help but tear up. What kind of tears? Gratitude. Love. Unworthiness. Joy, perhaps. A deep desire to cherish every moment, every smile, every laugh, every conversation, every hug, every word spoken in love. An equal desire to forget every word spoken in exasperation. An eagerness to serve, to shower love on these precious people as much as time and opportunity will allow. Fear of taking it for granted, of missing something, of blinking and finding it all to be over. It is almost as though I glimpse heaven when I am at home. It is so sweet, so overwhelmingly sweet, I cannot even pin a singular feeling that evokes such emotion. Fellowship, unconditional Christ-given love, manifested grace, joy, harmony, humility, servanthood, rest…oh, be still my soul.

I suppose I must be fair in admitting, it is not all golden streets and pearly gates one hundred percent of the time. Oh no. We have our spats, our disagreements, our tensions and misunderstandings, our wounds and regrets. Exhaustion and frustration have their place and time. We are, all of us, very imperfect, very broken people, and it is more evident the older we get and the longer we know each other.

I suppose it is the sweet presence of Christ in my home that overwhelms me. I mean, after all, “every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Truly, every good thing that makes my home a sweet place is a gift from our perfect Father.

But while I am on the subject of home…
I am reminded of another home that is mine. It is the place my Savior has gone to prepare for me. I am merely a sojourner in this world. But to fellowship in the Spirit and in truth with my brothers and sisters in Christ — regardless of where that is geographically — is always a foretaste of that heavenly dwelling place where my holy Father resides, and the Son Jesus Christ at His right hand.
The sweetness of this, my blessed earthly home, is an invitation to imagine just how much sweeter it will be to go home to glory with all the saints.

Do not let your heart be anxious. You have believed in your Father God. So believe Me, too. In His house there are many places to live. If this was not the case, I would have told you. I am going there to make a place ready for you. And the fact that I am doing this is a promise that I will come back again and take you home with Me, so that you can live with Me forever.
You know where I am going. And you know the Way….
Because { I  A M }
the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. And nobody can come to My Father unless they first come to Me.

Come to Me, every one of you who is weary and weighed down with heavy burdens. I will give you rest…

~ A paraphrase of John 14:1-4 & 6 and Matthew 11:28 ~