Everyone Returns Home. That's what the title means in Latin.
I have been very aware of the notion of home lately. I have blogs written about leaving your comfort zone and having the courage to walk away from home. Now I want to focus on the joy that is home.
You know the simplicity of childhood? How lovely it was that your only worry was how to make your blanket fort bigger? That’s the feeling I experience with Jesus. When I truly rest in His presence and His grace, my worries just disappear. It is not a complicated love. It is a love like childhood - a love of innocence, of purity, of laughter, of joy, of ice cream on the porch. People try to make religion a complicated institution, when in reality, it is a simple relationship with Jesus Christ. He loves you like his child. He wraps you in his arms, twirling your hair with his nail scarred hands.
I have been very aware of the notion of home lately. I have blogs written about leaving your comfort zone and having the courage to walk away from home. Now I want to focus on the joy that is home.
You know the simplicity of childhood? How lovely it was that your only worry was how to make your blanket fort bigger? That’s the feeling I experience with Jesus. When I truly rest in His presence and His grace, my worries just disappear. It is not a complicated love. It is a love like childhood - a love of innocence, of purity, of laughter, of joy, of ice cream on the porch. People try to make religion a complicated institution, when in reality, it is a simple relationship with Jesus Christ. He loves you like his child. He wraps you in his arms, twirling your hair with his nail scarred hands.
My favorite story in the Bible is the homecoming of the prodigal son. The son decides he wants an extravagant life, but it ends up leading him to squalor. He comes home, yearning for the simple life he once knew, even if it means being a servant. But when he comes home, his father greets him with open arms. His father doesn’t care what he has done, he simply wants to love and take care of him again. This paints a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father. He does not see our miserable selves, but an innocent child who needs love. We run away from Him, from our true home, to see what the world can offer us. We eventually realize nothing can beat the comfort of home. We come running back to find our Father on the front porch, arms wide open. Nothing is sweeter.
In a literal sense, this is how I feel coming home from school. I can feel the worries of the world leave me as I walk through my front door. More often than not, I come home and fall asleep on the couch because I do not have to worry about anything. I am safe and warm with the people I love most. That is what the simple love of Jesus gives us - a home.
I am not saying the entire life of a Christian is easy or comfortable. But I am saying the gentle call of the Lord whispering, “Come home, daughter, just come home, and let me love you” makes it all worth it.
