As many of you know Jennifer and I recently purchased a new house. I say “house” rather than “home” because there is a difference. We’ve lived in many houses, but only a few of them can qualify to be called our homes.
There is a distinction between a house and a home. I’ve lived in a few houses, and survived a few apartments in college! There are some places, though, that are so welcoming and inviting that you feel like you’ve “arrived.” Those are homes in the truest sense of the word.
The phrase is clichéd, but the truth it contains for me is eternal: home is where the heart is. And my heart is with my family, with my loyal and loving wife Jennifer and my amazingly sweet daughter Jenna. And I guess I’ll throw our dog Presley into that mix! He has a special place in my heart too.
When I’m away from my home there’s a special sort of ache in my heart, telling me it’s time to go back to those who know me better than I know myself, yet who still love me. They encourage, support and challenge me to be more than I am. Home is my starting point and the goal of my day. Home is always there for me, beckoning me to return safely and be comforted, strengthened and sent out again. Home is safe.
My family has been given another place to make our home with the purchase of our new house. Our neighbors have welcomed us with open arms and our friends have come over to celebrate with us and bless us. Despite all the anxiety and sweat involved in the details of moving, Jennifer and I feel very blessed. I’m reminded of a passage from Psalm 126 that describes the feelings of the people of Israel when Yahweh allowed them to return to their homeland after their long captivity in Babylon:
When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
We were like men who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
Our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
And we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:1-3, NIV)
Truly the LORD has done great things for us! And we are truly filled with joy!
[Yes, and sometimes a bit overwhelmed! We’ve already had to call a plumber and may have to replace the main drain pipe. Pause for crude sophomoric humor aimed at me here… Did you get that out of your system? Hahaha….Moving on…]
As blessed and comfortable as I feel in our new house, though, I still feel a twinge of restlessness. While I do feel safe and nurtured and loved in our new home, there is a part of me that knows it is not my true Home.
And there is an even greater difference.
Our real Home is with our heavenly Father, a place and presence we have yet to realize fully. This world is fleeting, and is quickly passing away. One day it will be replaced by all that is true, beautiful and permanent. Jesus told his disciples, “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 14:2-3). Jesus is preparing Home for us, and I long to be there.
In the meantime, though, we are here in this imperfect place, working and praying, praying and working, all the while longing for Home. One day it will arrive. Heaven and earth will be reunited and all things will be made new. Read Revelation 21 and 22. There’s nothing like it to encourage and inspire hope.
While in this home, the Father gives me road signs to point the way Home. They come to me as echoes, assuring me that the path I follow, though difficult and at times lonely, is the path of life that is leading me to green pastures and still waters.
One of those signs is a great passage from The Return of the King, part three of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Frodo Baggins, the main character of the story (and one of the three main Christ-figures) has been granted passage on a ship that will take him to the Undying Lands. Frodo has been deeply wounded in his body, mind and spirit as he willingly undertook a great journey of self-sacrifice to save others. At the end of his great journey, Frodo discovers his reward, which has only come to him in dreams: healing and everlasting peace in a land of Light and Life and Love. Tolkien describes it beautifully…
And the ship went out in the High Sea and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.
“A far green country.” Beautiful. My soul sighs with yearning and sadness and joy. I can almost hear the music now.
Lead me Home, Lord. Lead me Home.
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