“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.”
John 14:1-3 (CEB)
My heart wants to go home. Home is Kansas City where my parents still live in the house where I grew up. Home is beautiful maple trees full of red and yellow and orange leaves. Home is vegetable beef soup and cornbread. Home is playing 42 at the kitchen table. Home is laughing hysterically with my sister over silly things. My heart wants to go home.
It is not safe for me to make the trip right now. My parents are in their 90’s and I don’t want to risk carrying coronavirus to them. We have had several conversations about me making the drive to Kansas City, and I’ve even thought about not telling them I’m coming, and just knocking on the door and standing on the driveway and visiting. I want to see their faces. I want to hold their hands. My heart wants to go home.
In his book “The Longing for Home” Frederick Buechner helps to illuminate our own understanding of home as both our place of origin and our ultimate destination. For Frederick Buechner, the meaning of home is twofold: the home we remember and the home we dream. As a word, it not only recalls the place that we grew up in and that had much to do with the people we eventually became, but also points ahead to the home that, in faith, we believe awaits us at life's end.
As Christians we know that our home in heaven is being prepared for us. A place of light and love and praising God eternally. No more sickness. No more pain. We long to be safe in the arms of Jesus.
The home we grew up in. The home we will ultimately go to. Home.
“My Jesus, I Love Thee”
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
And singing Thy praises, before Thee I’ll bow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.
Written By: Karen Gossett