In search of home

Make yourself at home. I love those words. Like to hear them. Like to say them.

Yourself at home. You know… like when you’ve come into squirmingly unfamiliar territory, and those words mean you don’t need to think of yourself as a guest or a trespasser or an awkward wallflower. You belong. You’re family. At least that’s what someone wants you to think. Whether you can actually be at home is another matter.

At home. Whatever site you’ve chosen to be your “home page” when you hop onto the internet, probably is one place you feel at home. You see the familiar background and some kind of comfort settles into you. A connectedness. It’s become your home base from which you launch.

Home. Somewhere in my pre-teen years, I discovered a few moving words that helped me find “home” when I was having a hard time even making myself at home in my own skin. They were some words of Jesus to his best buds. And they went something like this:

I’ve loved you the way the Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. (from chapter 15 of John’s Gospel, the 9th verse)

That worked for me. Through the bully-filled hallways at school, I walked with a force field around me. Someone could punch through the force field and reach my shoulder, but they could not shake my sense that God’s love was layered around me. God’s constant love for me was my home, a home that I carried with me.

I have to admit, that image hasn’t always worked for me. Along the way I came up with new ones, new images of God’s presence that grew and changed right along with me. But I also had years when I had no working metaphors for God’s love. And I found a lot of different kinds of “homes”, some good for me, and some... not so good.

I look back now and truly treasure the roads I’ve taken and the homing images I’ve had along the way. Through it all, I believe, God has been faithful, reaching out to me in many different ways and forms. And now I’m back to loving the image of God’s love as home, even more than I did when I first stepped into it.

Where is “home” for you, and what’s there that helps you feel that way? Do you have many homey places, just a few, or none at all? Please share any reflections you may have, if you like.

Our Bread for your journey gathering this Thursday will take us further into this homing expedition, and I really hope you’ll come. Whether you’re someone who likes to quietly watch and listen or someone who likes to speak the questions and insights of your hearts… you can find a home with this community-in-process called by the way.

Stop by the Crowne Plaza at 7pm Thursday night, just off exit 8 in Nashua. The parking garage is a handy place to leave your car. And the good folks at the front desk can point you in the right direction. If you can’t stop by, feel free to come back here to the blog for a similar experience of home.

Peace,
Kari