Do we ever really leave home? Can we have more than one home? Is home a place or a state of being?
This week I watched as a series of storms hit an area where I use to live. it was quite scary to see photos of the aftermath—multiple tornados were confirmed to have touched down, and places where I have loved and served were shown as examples of victims of nature.
Thankfully, there were no casualties.
However, it touched me deep down, to know that people and places I still care deeply about were so affected by disaster. They are places, after all, that still feel like home.
This made me reflect on ‘home’. I have lived in a number of locations, and many of those have been ‘ home’ even for a brief time. This week’s physical destruction helped me to realise that the notion of ‘home’ has less to do with a physical location, and more to do with the experience of love and ministry there. It’s all about relationship; about the emotional connection with people that continues even after the postal address has changed.
‘Home’ may change every time I move—to a new parish, to a new community, to a new house. ‘Home’ may be many places at once.
But ‘homeless’ is not something I will ever suffer from.
This is because my home, the home of my heart, lies in the living out of my relationship with God. And so home is where my heart is—to quote the cliché—and my heart lies where it will, unlimited by human expressions of time and space.
So ‘home’ is here, now; it is there, then; it is with her, at that time. So long as I choose to invite and celebrate God in each and every location and circumstance, it has the chance to be ‘home’.
May we seek out this ‘home’ at every opportunity. May we live the prayer of psalm 122 ” I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” May we delight in knowing that home is not a location, but a reality; not a destination, but a spiritual awareness – a home of many rooms, of many loved ones, of many possibilities. Let us go ‘home’ in our hearts, evermore dwelling in the house of the Lord, regardless of what structure encompasses our physical beings.
By Elaine Dunsmore August 22, 2016 - 4:56 pm
Dear Rev. Laura
I enjoyed your piece as it really “hit home!” I am thinking a lot about my present home right now. It is too large with too much stuff and I would so much like something small, energy efficient and containing just the basics. To accomplish this I would need to devote a lot of time to culling, sorting, packing, selling, giving away and it is too big a job! My husband and I also have a home on wheels, a small truck camper and a log cabin in the wilderness with no light or running water. All these homes are lovely and special in their own way and acquired over the last 40 years, but all need keeping clean and organized and I am really not interested in keeping them all up anymore! It could be old age and the realization that all we have built and paid for is now a burden in many ways.
Also, I love my church home but the newish hall is in need of up $1,000,000 in repairs due to faulty building 20 years ago. The lovely sanctuary which smells musty and old, sadly has to take a back seat yet again, as the hall takes precedence.
Thank you for reminding me that home is a state of mind and as long as I remember to be with God and in Him/Her I do not need anything else. The rest will take care of itself!
Blessings,
Elaine
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz August 22, 2016 - 5:26 pm
Thanks Elaine! Best of luck with the downsizing and the parish challenges – ‘home’ ownership seems to include a never-ending to-do list 🙂
Blessings!