HOMELINESS

… or is that hominess. I could never figure out how homely could mean less comely (or even ugly) when home is such a beautiful word, could you?

Home is truly a relative term. When with relatives we ought to feel at home. And then there is that home away from home. Or that transitional home that is in the process, but looking more like it belongs with each passing day.

Thinking a lot about “home” these days. Some of my homes have faded in the distance of time. The home where I grew up – that cinderblock house (or was it cement block? – can never keep those straight) on the hill, and the little frame rented house down off the hill where I was born. Of course, the favorite home of my childhood memory will always be Grandma Oe and Grandpa Grover Miller’s - up Tanner in Shock, Gilmer County, WV. And yes, right now I especially miss my “home” in Amma, WV; enough so that I push those very clear pictures to the side lest I become ‘homesick’ in these delicate stages of transition.

If I’m going to be homesick, I want to be like Beth in “Little Women.” I want to be homesick for Heaven. Now isn’t that a lovely thought? Homesick for Heaven. Not the longing that makes us ill, but the desire that brings joy to our hearts and hope to our souls. Surely, the wondrous changes and adjustments are unimaginable, but without quandary or regret … ever. Forever Joy.  

Has God designed our longing for home as a proving ground for eternity? Perhaps so. If so, it might not be a stretch to think of our homes, as God would have them be, as a little piece of heaven. Translation: holy bliss. I’d best get preparing!

“…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might … (Ephesians 1:18-19 ESV)”