HOME.....a lovely physical dwelling that holds memory, safety and well-being for all who cross its threshold. It's the place we most want to be after a significant time away, a long hard day, or are needing some shelter from a world bent on sin. But HOME is also... and sometimes more so...a lovely dwelling of peace, and well being that is not defined by anything physical at all.
Like the HOME we know when we're with someone who loves us, not for anything we can do or give, but for who we are, or the HOME we come to when we've struggled to find that place where who we are and what we love to do, finally lines up with some joyful sharing, meaning, and purpose. It's the HOME we run to when we've failed miserably and need somebody, somewhere to hold us and tell us it will be alright, and then there they are. Or.... it's the HOME of peace we feel while listening to Gary McSpadden sing, "In this Very Room" or "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones, depending upon your particular persuasion of "peace."
And it's the HOME that comes over you when you're stroking the ears of a beloved pet, listening to your daughter go on and on about how she's loving her first job, drinking a cup of hot tea with your best friend, lingering over a delicious meal with companions you'd die for, reading a good book, stumbling upon a piece of comforting scripture that has your name all over it, working hard with others toward a common good and life-giving purpose, welcoming the embrace of someone who is holding your sorrow, sitting contentedly with someone you love, and having someone you love sit contentedly with you.
Which is why sitting with Jesus can be the best possible HOME there is. There's so much love there. So very much. So much so, that it can withstand anything. It can withstand all the ways we choose to resist, refuse, fight and challenge Jesus' presence; which is why it feels like HOME. This HOME, like Jesus, remains steady and secure even when we cannot. I think it's like Robert Frost said... “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
But with Jesus, I don't think there's any "have to" about it. It's "want to... chooses to.... deeply longs to.... take us in." And the thing is if we decide Jesus is a good HOME for us to live with and be, there's no "have to go there" for us. We want to... choose to... deeply long to... have Jesus take us right on in. And oh what a lovely dwelling, safety, peace and well-being for all who cross His threshold. There's so much love there. So very much. So much so, it can withstand anything; which is why "there is no place like HOME," especially if our HOME is with Jesus.
May Jesus be a apart of every HOME you know and love today.
Blessings. Leslee
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