We’ve been home now for two months. We’ve slowly settled in to our normal routine. Things are back to the way they were, and yet, they’re different. We are different. Our time away together has changed us all.
Kind friends ask, ‘are you glad to be home?’ and, our answer is, ‘yes, we are’. We’re glad to be back with family, our church family, friends, routines, our home and school . We’re glad for small comforts like a washing machine, a kettle, a bedside table and our own bathroom. Dorothy was right :’there’s no place like home.’
And yet, it’s not perfect. It was not perfect being away and it’s not perfect being home. We took our problems and annoying habits and idiosyncrasies around the world with us and they returned with us. It has been a good reminder for me. I longed to be on holidays before I went and I longed to be home when I was there. There is a restlessness in me (and, I suspect, in us all) which is explained by this verse from the bible
‘God has placed eternity in the hearts of people’ Ecclesiastes 3:10
God has made our lives so much more than just here on this earth. We are made to live eternally with Him. This world doesn’t quite fit because heaven is my home. Augustine wrote in the 4th Century AD
‘The only ultimate disaster that can befall us…is to feel ourselves to be at home on earth. As long as we are aliens, we cannot forget our true homeland.’
In this life, God gives us glimpses of our life to come. We have good times – our trip was one of these good times – and so was coming home again. These good times are God’s generous gifts to us. Max Lucado says
‘…. we have our moments. The newborn on our breast, the bride on our arm, the sunshine on our back. But even these moments are simply slivers of light breaking through heaven’s window. God flirts with us. He tantalizes us. He romances us. Those moments are appetizers for the dish that is to come.’
It would be a tragedy if all we took away from our holiday was the photos, memories and a desire to keep travelling the world. We do have those things but we also have much, much more. We have a deep thankfulness to God for the opportunity and family times we had. We are amazed about God and His wonderful world. These things are the appetizers. But we also know that we struggled. Things didn’t live up to our expectations. And they don’t now we’re home, either.
Our odyssey has reminded us again that there’s no place like home: and we look forward to the day when we are at home with God, forever.
Karen
