Home

Home
How does one word invoke so much peace?

It's amazing what one little word can do. Ask a total stranger on the street about their home, and watch their expression change, soften, and lose its careworn appearance. 

My Ideal house has a wrap around porch and enough room
for 8+ kids, a husband, and a dog named Murphy. 

No matter where it is, the type of home that makes people relax and smile involves comfort, love, warmth, and care. A place where others will be welcomed and treated like family.

Yet even with all of these things, and more, there will still always be conflict, hurt, pain, fear, and anger. Even in good homes, we are all still flawed and empty, yearning for something more to fill us up.

Yet ask anyone, and they will tell you that they yearn for a  place to call Home, even if they've never experienced it before. 

So where is our true home to be found? With the people we love? Of course.
Having a soft bed? In the most beautiful house we can find, with a four car garage and a big backyard?

Not so much.

Our eternal home, of course, is in heaven, but on earth, things are a bit trickier.
Our earthly home is where the Lord leads us, sustains us, guides us, grows us, and brings us to his presence. Whether that be the furthest reaches of Africa, or in your hometown in the Midwest, that is often up to Him.

Where is Home?
It may be better to ask,
what is home?

Hanna Elizabeth

Insects buzzed around me as I sat in the tall grass, drinking in the beauty of the sunset.
Beams of light spewed forth from the sun as it sank, and shot forth onto the mounting thunderheads in the north east.

The sticky heat had been oppressive all day, and the living ached for the coolness of the breeze.
Yet still the sun sank, and the sky grew more vibrant as the clouds turned from pink to purple, against the stark blue and orange hue of the sky.

A tree which had given up its will to live sat creaking in the wind, lamenting its fate, as a large crow alighted on it.

As the sun's beams continued trying to pierce the growing mountains of clouds in the north east, the thunderheads stubbornly refused to yield their bleach white color.

As I continued to watch the battle between sun and clouds, even as the sun began to retreat, a third, darker element gradually came into view.

Thin fingers of suave grey from the south began reaching in the sun's direction
as flashes of light told me the bigger story may lay behind me.

The fingers of darkness continued to reach out to cover the light, and the flashes of light to my back became faster.

The puffs of cool breeze which had been absent all day began to replace the heat, and suddenly, every insect was gone.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

This thought enveloped me as I watched the impending storm creep across the sky.

This is going to be a big one I thought, as the clouds continued to darken and spread.

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Its insistence made me pause. Why did I so often become afraid of the darkening clouds, seeming to block each light beam in its path? Even if it looks bleak, why should I not trust?

The rumble of thunder in the black sky behind me gave me a sliver of fear.

The thunder and dark clouds seem so frightening in our own lives, but what happens after each thunderstorm?

The Sun comes out.

Jesus, please do not let me forget your constant presence, even when the dark clouds build behind me.

Hanna Elizabeth