Home Again

Read Psalm 27:4-6

Our house is starting to look like a home. All but a few boxes have been unpacked. The endless mountain of empty boxes have been taken to the recycling bin, where I know the custodian there is wondering where all those boxes are coming from (especially all the empty Vodka boxes). Things are mostly in place. Except pictures. Who would have ever thought that we have so many pictures to hang. I don't think there is enough wall space for them all. Yet, we are pretty settled. The house is a home again.

It's amazing what the presence of a family can do to a house. Have you ever noticed how fast an empty house deteriorates? But put a family in there, it gets sustained. It's like it need the opening and closing of doors, the rubbing of floorboards from its occupants walking, the subsonic vibrations of stereos played too loud (from teenagers, mind you). Houses needs people.

Houses provide shelter for us, a place to feel safe and secure, a place to settle and have some privacy. But what makes the house a home is the love that is fostered within.

The reading from the Bible today tells of the psalmist longing to be in God's house. There he knows resides the love of God - and his eternal home. There like no other place, can the psalmist, or you or I for that matter, can rest at ease, knowing that no harm or misery can cast its shadow on us. Because there, God resides - the Author of creation, the Sustainer of life, the Redeemer of shattered souls.

But where can we find God's home? On a white sandy beach? On a lofty mountain peak? In a endless green meadow? On a busy street corner? In a park stadium? In my house? In yours?

God's home is found wherever the human heart is open for God's glory and grace to shine forth. God home is wherever God is. God's home is within us, ready to be open for all who seek shelter from the business and stress that life purveys. God, open my heart and let it be your home.

Godspeed,
Tim