When I was just a little girl, I longed for nothing more than to put down roots in the same small southern town where my family has lived for generations.
Love for that place and it’s quiet, predictable ways convinced me there was no where on earth, save there, for me. Besides, every person I cared anything about dwelled between it’s borders. I couldn’t for the life of me think of a reason any sane individual would want to leave.
I assumed that safety and happiness were only found in the familiar surroundings and beloved faces of that sleepy little spot of earth.
But as I grew so did the dreams God planted in me. Sooner than I would have guessed and earlier than Mama preferred, He began to call me out from that haven. One small step outside it’s protective borders, and then another. Until I found my feet wandering all over God’s green earth, and sometimes farther.
And although I still adore that blessed little town and hail it as the dearest to my heart, I have discovered a truth that lets me leave securely:
Home is where He is.
Home is where He sends us. Where He keeps us. Home is where He calls us us. And sometimes where He drags us. Home is in the city and in the country. In the lush of South Alabama and the brown of New Mexico too.
Dear ones, there is no place where God is not. We fool ourselves and idolize places when we believe that happiness lies only there, in that particular spot. Scripture would preach us another sermon. There is no place sweeter than His presence, and His presence is not tethered to a location.
Home is living fully right where He plants us. Embracing whatever with whomever He surrounds us. Home is simply being with Him.
So let’s be people who love where we’re from and stay there if God so desires. For those He has called out, may we go back often and keep a sacred spot in our souls for where we started.
But no matter where we find ourselves, may our deepest roots be in Him and not the dirt of this earth. Because home is not a place, it’s a Person.
Thank you, sweet Beth, for this reminder of the treasure of His nearness!
Amen! God taught me this early, as I never even had that original “home” to call home since my family moved around so much. When I struggle with this, He always leads me to Acts 17:24-28: “The God who made the world and everthing in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that tey should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” I love the part that says, “and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. What a comfort!
So interesting how he wills some to stay put and some to move around, isn’t it? There are hard things about both staying and leaving, I think. Good word, Teresa. Thank you for commenting.
I am not sure if my last comment posted or not… so I am going to try again. I love this perspective! When I moved to SC from Fl – I felt very homesick. I never thought I would leave my town, I loved it so. Now, looking back, I see what made SC my home. My God and my family. It isn’t a place. A house. Even a church. It is Him.
Amen, Mandy. Leaving a beloved hometown isn’t easy. But it is possible to feel at home again, isn’t it? It has so much more to do with our contentment in Him. Thanks for joining the conversation!