HOME SWEET HOME

 Once again I am moving soon.  This will be the seventh move in 13 years.  That has to be some kind of record.  I recently told someone who did not know me how many times I have moved and they asked was I in the military.  My reply--"It's a long story." and truthfully I have to really stop to ponder what has precipitated all this moving around.  For most of my life I was stuck like glue to one spot.  After I moved to college in 1966, I was in Ruston in a very few houses.  One house I lived in for 30 years and loved it.  I would still be there today if not for a life altering event.  

For all of you who have lived in one town and a small number of houses in your entire lifetime, I now understand why you call that home.  We all think of home as the place where most of our life has occurred.  I raised my family in that house of 30 years; that made me call it home.  I was never enticed by bigger and better as some are but instead loved the comfort of walls which surrounded my story.  I strongly suspect all my moving has been a quest to recapture that feeling of home.  Each and every house I have lived in (well except for the two apartments) in this 13 years had the potential of being home--but I never recaptured that feeling.  After much thought, I have come up with two conclusions ~

God gives us memories which include those of our homes.  That is a good thing.  I can have something come floating to the surface from long ago and immediately have the warmth spread through me.  If I go back far enough, I remember how I felt when my mother sold the home I grew up in to move to be closer to family when we all settled in Ruston.  I still dream about that house of my childhood.  Though I may not physically still own the house my children were raised in, the memories cannot be taken from me.

The most important thing I have come to believe is truth---all the dwellings on this side of eternity are temporary---including our bodies.  This is all fleeting---as my dear friend, Helen, says, "Hay & Stubble".  Our forever home---the place I will finally feel the warmth and comfort of being surrounded by love is yet to come.  When I leave this terrestrial ball--and all it entails---I will finally truly be home---in the presence of The Father & His Son.  For all of you who have a place you call home--how wonderful!  For those who have felt a quest for the physical presence of a building to call home--do no despair.  

"So we are always of good courage. 

 We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 

for we walk by faith, not by sight. 

Yes, we are of good courage,

 and we would rather be away from the body 

and at home with the Lord.

II Corinthians 5:6-8