Apr. 6, 2014

Genesis 28:16-17

Then Jacob woke up. “God lives here!” he exclaimed in terror. “I’ve stumbled into his home! This is the awesome entrance to heaven!”

They are back. And have been for a couple weeks. Several times recently, I have seen Sandhill Cranes here in Wisconsin. These tall, thin-legged beautiful birds are well-known in our neck of the state. When Rick and I lived in the country, we could often hear cranes in the marsh not too far from our house.

Sandhill Cranes are interesting birds. They mate for life. The fly south for the winter (sometimes guided by a human on a flying machine) and return to generally the same area every spring. They have been protected to try and repopulate them.

And now they are home. Well, what I consider home.  I’m not sure if “home” for them is here in Wisconsin or down south. I like to think their Wisconsin home is what they consider home.

What is home for you? We often think of this as the house in which we were raised. Grown adults will talk of “going home,” meaning returning to the location where they were raised.

As I have spent more time at my in-laws these past few months, it is interesting to consider where my “home” is. Our granddaughter Ellie will ask if we are going to my “home” when I have the kids. What she really means is if we are going to my in-law’s house. I tell her that yes, we are going to Grandma Great or Grandpa Great’s house. More than once she has told me that this is “my” home. In her mind, it is. Rick and I have a bedroom there. I have some of my things there. I can come and go as I please. While Ellie has been to our Mazomanie home, she more often has been with me at my in-law’s home. Once when I tried to explain whose “home” it is, she said to me, “Well, I’m just going to call it your home.”

I enjoy my Mazomanie home. It is comforting to walk in the door after I’ve been gone for a day, two days or several.  It is the place where I can control where things are, if it’s clean or dirty and how I decorate. But in the end, it’s still just a house.

Where is home for me? In God’s family. It’s less about a physical building and more about believing in something with others that holds us all together. Maybe the cranes consider both their Wisconsin and southern locations “home.” Maybe it’s less about the location and more of a peace of heart. It’s wherever God is.

Lord God, help me to feel most at home wherever you are present. May it be less about a physical building and more about a peace within my heart.  Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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