In a few days, I'll be moving to MI and into a new apartment. This move seems different from other moves I made. I recall moving into my first apartment after graduating back in 1990. It was a new beginning - my career and freedom of school - where life was work and play. Then I shared a house with several friends. It was a place of laughter and good friendships, but temporary as I looked to go overseas. Next was the move to Burkina Faso in West Africa. My little duplex, without electricity, with a tin roof and the bare comforts was home. However I lacked privacy as everyone who came to my door knew exactly what I had been doing and even with the door closed, they would knock persistently. When I came home, after living with my parents for a while, I moved into my current apartment. It was filled with garage sale furniture and all my "doodads" from various aspects of my life. Due to my health, coming home to my apartment meant being flooded with the despair and stress of that day. It was not a haven.
Now, entering a new phase of my life, I am moving once again. After much debate where I should live, it was very clear, that this apartment was to finally be my "own." It will have its comforts - a fireplace (something I've always longed for), a dishwasher, laundry in the unit and walk-in closets! But those are the physical things. I have been preparing for this home to be a refuge, the place where I come home after a busy shift at work, to sit down and say "Ah..h..h. Another day done." Or to come home from church and say "Ah..h..h. Lord, You are so good." This is the first time that my home will be a sanctuary, where God will be ever present. It feels so good!
Don't get me wrong. My new home is a roof over my head but I still know very much that my true home will really be in heaven. This Easter weekend, I was struck by the words of my pastor as he spoke of "the empty cross, the empty tomb and the empty sky." I will find pleasure in my new apartment but I will look to the empty sky, waiting for that day when it will be filled with a flash of blinding light, the great voice and the trumpet call as Christ comes back and I will be truly home for eternity, in the mansion He has prepared for me.
1 comment:
Thanks for commenting on my blog Lydia! I appreciated your thoughts and encouragement.
I resonate with the idea of finding a sanctuary and place to call home. I do believe we all have this built in longing for this concept of "home". It's like what C.S. Lewis said, "you don't know what a crooked line is unless you know something about what a straight line looks like."
Whenever I move somewhere new, I always remind myself of the transcendence of a desire for "home". There is definitely nothing wrong with enjoy a home and making it your sanctuary, new memories and blessings too. I would call it a foretaste.
Keep on, our prayers go with you Lydia.
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