Going Home

Lately I’ve felt a longing to “go home.” I’m not sure where “home” is or even what “home” is for that matter. But I feel a tug in the pit of my stomach pushing me to find the place where I need to be.

For most of my life, I have called Chattanooga home because that is where I grew up and that is where my family still lives. And even after moving to Murfreesboro in 2004, I still call Chattanooga “home” even though I no longer live there.

To this day, I don’t think of Murfreesboro as “home.” I’m not sure that there is one exact reason that I can pinpoint but many. For starters, I don’t feel rooted here, meaning that if Daniel got a new job somewhere else, I don’t think I would be very sad to leave the ‘Boro. Don’t get me wrong, there are people I would miss: my church family and friends that God has brought into my life and who have blessed me tremendously. But otherwise, I would be fine to pack up and move somewhere else. Also, because Daniel bought our house at a time when we were not together (before we married), I didn’t play a role in the home-buying process and therefore do not, for whatever reason, feel like it is my home, despite the feminine touches.

So where, then, is home?

In the last few months, I’ve been back to Chattanooga to visit family. A part of me wishes we were closer to them so our children could grow up nearer their cousins, aunt and uncle, and grandparents. Also, a part of me really misses the church family at Signal Mountain Church of Christ where I grew up. Still, I don’t know that Chattanooga is where I need or really want to be.

As Daniel and I look at land for a future move, I can’t picture exactly where we will be, but I envision a space with lots of room for the girls to run and play without fear, a space for a larger garden, a space without crazy neighbors so close we can hear them yelling at each other from inside our house.

I see a place where we can sit outside on the porch and only hear silence, where we can build the home we have always wanted, where we can have a dog and maybe a few chickens, where our family can grow closer together.

But what does the Bible tell us about “home”?

The author of the 91^st psalm tells us that, for Christians, our true home is in the Lord:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

If you make the Most High your dwelling—

even the Lord, who is my refuge—

then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

Psalm 91:9-10

As a Christian I know that my earthly home will never be the place of comfort, rest, and security that I long for; it will never be my true home. My true home is in the Lord, who protects us like a mother hen shields her chicks from harm:

He will cover you with His feathers,

and under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Psalm 91:4

While I’m searching for my earthly home, I need to remember that only in the Lord do I have a true home, a refuge from the storms of life. On this earth I will never find a place like the home I have in Him.

Have you found the place that you call “home sweet home”?