Got Home?

I haven't been posting very regularly because we've been gone, and I'm also working on transitioning this blog to a new platform, but I figure everyone is getting in as much time as possible outside, playing hard before we go back into the school year routine.  Who wants to be at their computer when there are picnics to be had and lakes to swim in, and bikes to ride?

We just got back from a week visiting family and friends in the suburbs of Chicago.  I grew up in a shady-treed town with a little lake for ice skating in winter, and small town parades celebrating homecoming, 4^th of July and boys little league baseball.  I’m blessed to have a close, faith-filled extended family who still live there.  I always feel replenished and encouraged after time with them.  They are a reminder that, even if flawed, good healthy, loving relationships are possible.  It’s safe.  It’s life-giving.  It feels…”right”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about “home” lately.  I’m a “nester”.  I sink deep roots and love intensely.  Which can be good. 

And bad. 

When I think of models in the Bible there are a lot of folks who love deeply, but don’t have geographical roots…aren’t attached to a house they love or a town with great bike paths, or their small group from church. 

 

Think of some of the great heroes of the faith.  They all had to leave “home”!  Abraham….Moses…Ruth…Some were uprooted more violently than others (Joseph, Noah?) Paul’s life was spent living out of a suitcase!  Sure, their culture was nomadic, but when 1 Peter 2:11 says “Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it”, I resist!  I like it here!

Can you relate?

I’ve been thinking, maybe those places that feel the most safe,

  the most life-giving

    the most “right”

are like the delightful aroma of just-baked cookies that linger in your mother’s kitchen.  A reminder of the way God created the earth to be before the Fall and the way it will be again someday.  A reminder of our true home.

So maybe our “nesting” instincts, our desires to create beautiful, welcoming spaces, to be rooted in love, are part of bringing heaven to earth…creating kingdom havens.

What are the places you think of as home?  What’s one way today that we can create a heavenly home away from home while we wait for the real thing that will be permanent?  Is there one way to nurture, bring life, encourage with words, create boundaries for safety, or honor God that you can choose today?