Being at Home is a Mindset of Faith

Recently, I was in a situation where I visited someone who kept saying she wanted to go home. This lady, who was obviously very ill, yearned for the home she had known for so long. This home for her was a place where children were raised, a marriage cultivated to fruition, and a harbor of hope, joy and love. She yearned to be home. I knew in those moments that while she wanted to be in a place with a physical address and tangible elements, what she needed were the implications of being in that place.

We all deal with those emotions don’t we? This is a season of endings and beginnings for many. Students are heading back to schools in Iredell County, while other students are beginning their tenure at universities across the state and country. People are entering our community because of jobs, opportunities, or retirement, and the landscape of our time and place can change drastically from day-to-day. I often wonder if that’s a symptom of a deeper problem. Many people opine that these days, people don’t have the roots that generation of yesteryear had. I would argue that while people don’t stay where they were planted the roots matter more than ever.

We are a people built by our homes and the God who reigns over our homes. We are loved beyond measure by the people who represent the Divine to us, that is why deep down all college students wish they could come home, why all parents strive to make life better for their children than what they had, and why those in their golden years hope for the simplicity they once knew in the homes of their youth. But in all those situations we forget one important element. Home never left us. God has inspired a life in all of us that allows us to journey to the far reaches of the earth not only with the presence of our Creator but with the hopes, dreams, joys and frustrations of that which we know as home. The reason all of us work for a home is that in those moments when we are home, wherever that is, are moments in which God intricately weaves moments of holiness there.

This week, be thankful for your homes. If your homes are changing for whatever reason, know that home is more than a building, home is a mindset. It is a mindset of grace that leads us to a deeper understanding of our faith in the midst of this transient life. Never be afraid to dream and wish for home, but be forever reminded that home is never too far from that dream or wish, for God is our home. God is the surrounding presence that inspired those first feelings of belonging so long ago. Let us give thanks that no matter our reality, God is there, love is incarnate, and home is the mindset we can all work toward.