Home
As I contemplate my various trips throughout the world, I like to consider what my favorite thing is about each place I visit. I loved the colorfulness of Nicaragua, with flowers blooming everywhere and smiles on people's faces. I love the hills in Missiouri, and the moment when you've been hiking for miles and suddenly make it to the clearing where you can see ahead for miles. I love the trees and the creeks and the rich blueness of the sky in North Carolina. But most of all I love home.
Home is Louisiana. Home is where I notice that the sky is a different painting every single time I look up. If you go at the right time of year, Church on Sunday evenings is magnificent because the sun is streaming in through the stained glass windows. Even more magnificent, however, are the colors and the vibrancy of the sky when the service is over and I'm driving home. My Louisiana sky always amazes me, and reminds me of what I love about home.This year, I'm soaking in the beauty of the colors of the trees around me. Usually I dread the winter months here because it seems like everything is brown and dead for months. Maybe it will be like that again this year. But for now, I'm noticing colors as bold or possibly even bolder than I've ever seen in the mountains. Photos just don't capture the variations. This evening I drove home from work slowly, just so I could enjoy the view for a few extra minutes. As I drove past fields of cows, fields of trees, farms and homes, I had to ask God, "Did you put this beauty here tonight just for me?!" And do you know what? I honestly believe that he just might have.
Home is Louisiana. Home is where I notice that the sky is a different painting every single time I look up. If you go at the right time of year, Church on Sunday evenings is magnificent because the sun is streaming in through the stained glass windows. Even more magnificent, however, are the colors and the vibrancy of the sky when the service is over and I'm driving home. My Louisiana sky always amazes me, and reminds me of what I love about home.This year, I'm soaking in the beauty of the colors of the trees around me. Usually I dread the winter months here because it seems like everything is brown and dead for months. Maybe it will be like that again this year. But for now, I'm noticing colors as bold or possibly even bolder than I've ever seen in the mountains. Photos just don't capture the variations. This evening I drove home from work slowly, just so I could enjoy the view for a few extra minutes. As I drove past fields of cows, fields of trees, farms and homes, I had to ask God, "Did you put this beauty here tonight just for me?!" And do you know what? I honestly believe that he just might have.
I could turn this into a post about enjoying the little things, or paying more attention to God at work in the world around you. And perhaps that may be what you get out of it, but I want to point out something else even more. I don't know if I will end up leaving Louisiana or if I will stay here until I die. I know I will always remember the way home and I'll always have people here that love me. I've been learning about people during my time working at the library. Every single time I take the time to get to know someone, I realize that they each have a story to tell, reasons for who they are today, and pain and happiness buried inside that maybe they just don't know how to let out, or let out in ways that we cannot understand, without taking the time to listen and learn. I've become friends with wonderful people these past few months. I've met people who may not seem extraordinary if you just looked at them, but are beautiful God-made individuals when you get to know them. I've been loved on by my community, and have been given the chance to love them back. I've been trusted and cared for and watched out for. I can most assuredly say that God has worked in and through me as well as the people I've gotten to know over the course of the past few months. Maybe on the outside my town doesn't seem like much, but there are treasures buried on the inside. This is home. The people that we get to know make this home.
In Nicaragua, part of what I loved most were the smiles on the faces of strangers, welcoming me to their community. In North Carolina, I made some friends for life who welcomed me into their family, people who gave me a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Here at home, I've met people who I've been living next to for years, but who I am just learning how to see. Tonight I am sad to be leaving my position at the library, not just because it was a nice job where I got to work with wonderful people, but also because it was a gateway for me to get to know the people who make this funny, broken, falling apart town into my home. The scenery may be breathtaking, but the hearts and souls around me are even more awe-inspiring.
Are you home? Have you taken hold of the opportunity to fully embrace where you are as home? Do you see, as I do, the importance of people in our lives, even more than having a beautiful view?
As I consider the people I've met, I know they make this home. The people who remember my name when I don't remember theirs. The people who encourage me when I have been trying to encourage them. The people who try to tease me and instead make me feel loved. The people who share my donuts. These are my people, and this is my home.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:36-39
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13
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