For the last few months I have been reflecting on the idea home. What does home mean? For some people home is a physical establishment where they are able to find security and rest. For others, home is more about the people that dwell within the physical establishment in which they live. These people often offer grace, mercy, and unconditional love. Both these ideas of home have one thing in common: belonging. One either feels they have a physical establishment where they belong or a group of people to whom they belong. And then there are the lucky few who have both a warm, secure physical home and a group of loving, accepting people with whom they identify. Home is a place that encompasses fond memories and offers refuge in seasons marked by pain and brokenness. Home is a place where people flock to for the holidays in order to experience family tradition and belongingness. Unfortunately, there are far too many people who never experience home in this way.
For me, home has always been a place that I have been running away from rather than running to. I have never found the grace and unconditional love that I yearn for in the home that I grew up in or with the people that lived in that home a.k.a. my parents. I always felt more comfortable and secure in places outside my home such as my school, my dance studio, or the homes of my close friends. When I lived at home I spent as little time as possible at my house because for me my home was a place that represented devastating memories, broken promises, and painful relationships that seemed beyond repair. In my mind I didn’t really have a home, at least not in the sense that everyone else did.
Over the past year God has taught me about the true meaning of home. Home is not simply an establishment where you live and it is not defined solely by the people you live in community with. Home can be anywhere and anyone. I have discovered that for me home is a number of places. It is sitting on a dock, watching the sunset, on a humid summer day in Wisconsin. It is watching the Packers play football at Lambeau Field while the snow is falling and the cheese heads are cheering. It is laying on the beach, day or night, listening to the calming sound of the ocean. It is with the people that love me unconditionally and show me grace that I am in no way deserving of. Home can truly be anywhere or anyone you choose to let enrich your life and soul.
For anyone who feels alone, far from the comfort of a stable home, I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on your everyday life. Think about the place you go to find rest and the people who offer you encouragement and words of truth. Whether you realize it or not you have a home in those places and those people. My hope is that we are all able to embrace the home that God has given us, whether it is a physical establishment, groups of people, or a combination of the two.