Homesickness...

I have been reading through a book called, The Prodigal God, by Timothy Keller, and have come to a topic that I can relate to so well, as I'm sure many of you can. He begins talking about how each of us has a powerful influence of "home" in our lives. I am going to quote the book a lot, because he clearly explains it the best!

" "Home" exercises a powerful influence over human life...Many of us have fond memories of times, people, and places where we felt we were truly home. However, if we ever have the opportunity to get back to  the places we remember so fondly, we are usually disappointed....Home, then, 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...Many people of the church have shared with me how disappointing Christmas and Thanksgiving are to them. They prepare for the holidays hoping that, finally, this year, the gathering of family at that important place will deliver the experience of warmth, joy, comfort, and love that they want from it. But these events almost always fail, crushed under the weight of our impossible expectations."

Now I don't want you all to think that I don't have wonderful family holidays, or am let down all the time, because I'm not!! But I completely have had the feeling before of preparing for something so much that by the time it comes around and is gone, i feel like saying, "that was it!?" There is so much preparation and expectations on something that we are bound to be let down by it. But the main point he goes on to make about all this is that we all have some sort of "spiritual homesickness."

Back to the book, "In the beginning of the book of Genesis we learn the reason why all people feel like exiles, like we aren't really home. We are told that we were created to live in the garden of God. That was the world we were built for, a place in which there was no parting from love, no decay or disease. It was all these things because it was life before the face of God, in his presence. There we were to adore and serve his infinite majesty, and to know, enjoy and reflect his infinite beauty. That was our original home, the true country we were made for...The Bible says that we have been wandering as 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 to make a difference in the world through our work, we experience endless frustration...Jesus had not come to simply deliver one nation from political oppression, but to save all of us from sin, evil, and death itself. He came to bring the human race Home. Therefore He didnot come in strength but in weakness. He came and experienced the exile that we deserved...He took upon himself the full curse of human rebellion, cosmic homelessness, so that we could be welcomed into our true home."

So sorry to carry that on...but this book is so good and explains it so well. That concept tied in really well of Walker's birthday...I prepared so long for it and believe me had so much fun, but by the time the party comes and goes...it goes by so fast! And at the end you have a let-down, because you are physically tired and the fact that it's over. But it makes me happy to know that Christ came and died for me so that one day I will be Home, with him, and the party will never end!

We did have a blast this weekend celebrating Walker's birthday with family and friends and celebrating mother's day, with both moms! We truly feel blessed!

Revelation 21:4, "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."

We have hope!