What do the following things all have in common?
- The Corner of Seeber and Baum Roads, Hastings, NY. The house I grew up in, with heat from the wood stove warming every room and Mom's good cooking waiting to be eaten, when life was mostly predictable.
- 8393 Warbler Way, Liverpool, NY. The house we raised our kids in for 14 years, where I painted every single room, some of them twice - or more. The place filled with love, acceptance, forgiveness, joy and FUN (and air conditioning)! Where Thanksgiving and Christmas were celebrated BIG.
- Anywhere my husband and children are.
- Visions of oceanfront property or lakeside in the Adirondacks - family vacations.
- Dreams of a large farm house complete w/barn and barnyard animals (chickens included, of course!) in a small town where everyone knows one another and lives life in simple community.
Those images speak the word home to me. "Home exercises a powerful influence over human life. Many of us have fond memories of times, people are places where we felt we were truly home. Home is a powerful, but elusive concept. The strong feelings that surround it reveal some deep longing within us for a place that absolutely fits and suits us, where we can be, or perhaps find,our true selves. Yet, it seems that no real place or actual family ever satisfies these yearnings, though many situations arouse them."
Aroused images of home. I have them all the time. Do you? I love planning family gatherings - as elaborate as Christmas celebrations - or as simple as tonight's dinner. I've spent half of my life creating a home for the four people I love most in the world. I dream of obedient children, absence of conflict and each of us going out of our way to unselfishly bless another...every day. I did say it was a dream :). I want it to be a place they always want to come back to, and even long for.
I've even been known to buy into the fantasy that if I set the table just right, purchase the perfect gifts and prepare the most scrumptious foods then all of our extended family will get along, love each other, live in harmony, etc. I've yet to pull it off. I'm trying to create a place that will deliver the experience of warmth, joy and love. But these events almost always fall short, crushed under the weight of my lofty and impossible expectations.
I think back to the "good old days", the memories of times past, of comfort, peace, seeming problem-free life and want to go live it again. But I can't go back. None of us can.
What is the deep down longing? Why do you think we are so preoccupied with these fantasies? It's because we weren't created for this world. We have a deep yearning within us to reside with our Creator, the One who dreamed us up and desires relationship with us. It can't possibly be fulfilled here on Earth. We were made for heaven. Look at this:
- "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." Phil. 3:20
- "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling..." 2 Cor. 5:1,2
- "But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness." 2 Pet. 3:13
- Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." John 14:1-3
- "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!" Rev. 21:1-5
Yes! So that's what I'm dreaming about and longing for. This is where I want to be. C.S. Lewis puts it this way, "Our life-long nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation."
"We are all exiles, always longing for home. We are always traveling, never arriving. The houses and families we actually inhabit are only inns along the way, but they aren't home. Home continues to evade us."
But why? The book of Genesis tells us that we were created to live in the garden of God. There would be no loss of love or life, no decay or disease. We were meant to live face-to-face with Him. We should have been worshiping His infinite majesty, and knowing, enjoying and reflecting His beauty. (The beauty we constantly want to surround ourselves with). That was our original home, the true country we were made for. But we lost our home because of sin.
"The Bible says we have been wandering spiritual exiles ever since. That is, we have been living in a world that no longer fits our deepest longings. Though we long for bodies that 'run and are not weary', we have become subject to disease, aging and death." Though we long for love and sometimes think we have secured it, we each die and leave the relationship at some point. "We were not made for a world of disease and natural disaster, a world in which everything decays and dies, including ourselves. This world, as it now exists, is not the home we long for."
Well, no wonder! No wonder I am trying to create peace and comfort for myself and those I
love. Because deep down, God created me to desire the awesome world He has planned for me (us). I hope you are as blessed by this as I am. No wonder I don't feel
at home here in this world. No wonder I can't find permanence and
predictability. No wonder I can't insulate myself and my family from
harm. It makes sense!
No, we aren't satisfied with life as we know it. We keep trying to recreate it here, and that's where the disappointment comes in. But no worries, my friends! The best part is still in our future. God will reconcile us to Himself physically. We will live with Him. We will live in the place He has created to fulfill all of our longings. I just can't wait!
"Jesus will make the world our perfect home again. We will no longer be living 'east of Eden' always wandering, never arriving. We will come, and the Father will meet us and embrace us, and we will be brought into the feast."
As if that's not enough good news for today (and everyday), our loving God goes on to give us another promise - "Now there is in store for me (us) the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only
to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." 2 Tim. 4:8 - do you long for Him this way? If so, the crown of righteousness awaits you.
Pick your chin up - this world is not your home! if you've surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and put your faith in what He secured for you on the cross, then all these promises belong to you. One day we will live all our dreams and images of a home like no other...and it will be forever.
All quotes unless noted from The Prodigal God by Timothy Kelle
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