Sense of Home

[This reflection was written on December 22, 2012]

Sally Howell Johnson in Barefoot Zone writes a story about an older woman feeling a call to journey back to her home place on the farm where she grew up near the town of Bountiful. Sally asked, do we have a place that “calls” us to come “home” and where is that place? Is it our birthplace or the country of our ancestry? Is it a certain lake or mountain where we experience God?

Immediately I thought about Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. We travel there often and always feel such a keen connection with God that we are drawn back again and again. The lake and the area represent peace and tranquility – so much of the character of God – that we find true refreshment for time spent there. Over the years we have stayed in many different places along the shore, enjoying some more than others. So it isn’t a structure that calls us to take the five-hour drive. It is the scenery and the ever changing moods of that huge Lake Superior. I find God there.

I thought about my Golden Lake home. We lived here nearly thirty years calling it home and it has been the place we have met God and grown in our faith through the various struggles and pain of life. I will miss this scenery but I can drive back to Golden Lake Park at any time and snap a few photos.

God is calling us to a new home for a fresh start; redeeming our life story and relieving our finances. I am already planning a fortieth anniversary celebration for April/May. Life goes on in a new place with new challenges and opportunities to grow.

My sense of home resides with God. That is why I think I can rent various houses on the North Shore and still feel at home because God is very present to us there. To me there are a lot of memories with this Golden Lake home but they evolve around God and his blessing that we have been able to share with many people over the years. Some friends have expressed great sorrow at the memories this place holds for them. They hate to see us move, while at the same time realizing that it is Jim and Donna that have made this house a home for many, many people. The same will be true for the new place and community.

God will not leave us homeless. He will provide us a place to call home however temporary it may be. Who knows how long God will bless us with 3420 Silver Lane? We will enjoy it and celebrate God’s blessing with many friends far and near along with some new ones.

God will eventually call us home to heaven to live with him forever. Until then we have many wonderful opportunities to experience a little taste of “home” this side of heaven through travel and through celebrations with friends.

 Where do you experience a “Sense of Home"?

Morning Has Broken on Lake Superior