Homesickness

“For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move [to heaven]—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.” – 2 Corinthians 5:1-3 (The Message)

Have you ever been homesick? Maybe when you were younger, you went away to camp or to spend the night at a friend’s house for the first time and you felt that deep ache in your heart. I have friends that are career missionaries overseas and I know that at times they long for the familiarity of friends and family back in the States. I also know of men and women in our military currently fighting for our freedom who also miss their loved ones back home. I live on the opposite coast from my family and so many dear friends and have recently pinpointed that I have an intense longing in my heart and its homesickness. I am going on 7 months now of not having had a San Diego “fix” and that’s way too long. :) What makes me feel this way? I get to talk with them on the phone and Skype with them, but at the end of that day that doesn’t quite do it because I’m not in their presence. My heart is so connected to them and because I know what it’s like to spend time laughing and talking and just being with them, it leaves me constantly hungering for more. Does that resonate with anyone?

And while we experience homesickness in this earthly life, I think it is but a shadow of a deeper kind of homesickness for our eternal, heavenly home. I love how the Message puts the end of those verses: “The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.” Those mountaintop experiences with God, those breathtaking views of a sunset or a waterfall, those moments when you’re laughing so hard with a friend you feel your sides are going to split, those instances when you feel fully known and fully loved are all teasers to the real story that awaits us. Those glimpses remind us that this earth is not our home; we are merely passing through. That is God whetting our appetite so that we yearn for more – more of Him, more fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, more love and joy and peace (fruits of the Spirit) and the ability to finally be whole and free from sin and death. We long to be home with our Father who’s even now preparing a place for us (John 14:1-3). So if you are experiencing homesickness in any form today, join me in thanking the Lord that we have a place that carries such significance and meaning that our hearts would ache for it and let us also be reminded each time we feel that familiar pang, that we are ultimately yearning to be home with our Heavenly Father in our eternal and secure dwelling place. The best is yet to come!