Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home.
Home is where the heart is.
Home, sweet home.
The word “home” brings up different thoughts, feelings, memories and experience for all of us. Until I was 18, home for me was a small terraced house in North East London. Since then, I have lived in 12 different houses in 8 different places! Our sense of home comes not only from a place where we live but also the people that shape our lives.
Over the last few weeks, we have been told to stay at home, to protect ourselves and others. The relationship with our own homes and the feeling of “being at home” can be complicated and tangled up with many different issues, particularly at this time. Our homes have become places of safety, but for some, they have felt isolated or imprisoned in them.
The Bible uses the term “home” to describe our relationship with God. Psalm 16 calls God our home; that God is our place of safety.
Jesus, just before his death, resurrection and ascension, talks to his friends about going home, John 14: 1-6. Although he is going away, to be with God, he will be back. This is more than just a promise to return. He says that God has a place for each of them, that God wants to welcome them, now and forever. God wants to be our forever home, our shelter and safety.
When we follow Jesus teachings and pattern for life when we encounter the truth of our need for God and the reality of Jesus as God’s son and our saviour. We can begin to live life to its fullness, with God as our destination in life and our companion through this world. Then we can echo the words of Psalm 16 ourselves, “Lord, you are with me, you are my shelter and my home.”
What does “home” mean to you?
How are you feeling about being at home for so long?
Who are the people that make to feel at home?
How can we help others feel more at home?
God bless,
Alec
