This past year, I noticed that my automatic response in times of pain or hardship, frustration or anxiety, was a deep heart cry for home. That may seem a little confusing, considering in most of those instances, I was sitting in my house, where I lived with my husband, in a familiar region of Florida where I've been for years, with family and friends close by. If that's not home, then what is? And if it isn't then what was I yearning for?
There is no place that I feel more at home than Fire Island, NY. It's the place I grew up and forged a permanent connection with the ocean, the place I learned to sail and crab, where my dad taught me how to open a clam and catch frogs by moonlight, where I spent nights being rocked to sleep by the waves and mornings building sand castles. It's the place where I made every fond memory of my childhood with people that I love. There's no where else in the world that I feel so myself, so in my element, so at peace and happy.
Needless to say, I get homesick for Fire Island all of the time. We go back to visit every Summer for about a week. When I think of home, that's the place that holds that title in my heart. But unfortunately, I can't stay there and inevitably have to leave at the end of our visit. Being so far away from the place I call my true home has given me the opportunity to feel displaced so I can realize something greater:
Home is not a place, it is a Person.
I can always expect to walk into a church service and have the speaker preach a message that is exactly what God has been putting on my heart. The message on Friday was on point with my own thoughts and the conclusion we drew was the same: Abba is our home.
Jesus constantly redirected our gaze to Heaven in scripture: "You're not of this world. Your citizenship is elsewhere. Heaven is your home. The Father is your home." If you look up the word "abide" in the Bible, you'll see it multiple times over in reference to Him and His love. The word abide means "remain, stay, live, dwell." The place we call home is where we feel safe to remain, the most free to stay as long as we'd like, where we can live a life of being authentically ourselves, where we can dwell in comfort. I don't know about you, but that is precisely how I feel when I "abide" in God's presence!
As humans, we are wired with the need for safety and security, somewhere we can go to rest without worry, somewhere familiar, somewhere we feel we belong. While in this physical reality, it is all too easy to find the fulfillment of these needs in physical places and things. But we are not primarily bodies with spirits, we are primarily spirits with bodies. Our ultimate home must be found, therefore, in the spiritual realm, not the physical. Our ultimate home is in the One who can meet our needs for refuge, comfort, and oneness the best, because He created those needs to begin with.
Our desire for somewhere to call home is rooted in our desire for oneness with God.
You may have noticed the title of my post from a song called "Home" by the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. I think the lyrics pretty much exemplify how people feel when they're in love: that nothing is more comforting, more safe, more freeing than being with the person you love. Humans craving relationship and union with someone else is the picture of Jesus' desire to love and be loved by us as His bride. Being unified with someone is exactly what makes home feel like home!
Just as I began to ponder these things, Hurricane Sandy ripped through the North East. I don't want to minimize what people are going through by saying I understand how they feel to lose everything because I don't, but Fire Island, my home, was devastated along with theirs. Seeing the pictures of damage in the place most dear to my heart in the entire world, I felt like someone just punched me in the gut, stole my puppy, and trashed my house all at the same time. Seeing the one place you love more than anything under such destruction is totally heart-breaking.
But for all who have lost their homes, we can rejoice in the face of tragedy in knowing that we have a home that no wind or rain, snow, sleet, hail, tornado or wave can destroy. Even in the midst of the rubble, we have full access to an unblemished, unbreakable, perfect dwelling place. He is comfort, He is safety, He is hope, He is rest, and He is free for all to take shelter in.
His name is Jesus and He is our true home.
"Those who live in the shelter
of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow
of the Almighty."
-Psalm 91:1
<3 Hali
