Home. It conjures up so many memories for me. One that comes to mind is from the movie “E.T.” You see this cute little alien in another world, floundering around, trying to figure out what the things are that he is looking at or hiding in a closet so no one finds him or dressing up for Halloween as a ghost. Yet the most poignant scene in the movie for me was when E.T. pointed up his bony finger, and said one word, “Home.” I felt all the longing in the world for our eternal home in that one word: “home.”

When I was young, home was my haven. It was where I could run to hide from the outside world. It was a place where I could curl up with my favorite book, in my favorite chair, and disappear for a while into another world. Home was where I celebrated birthdays and holidays, and sad and happy times. It was a place where I enjoyed my mom’s tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, seated at the table surrounded by siblings and parents. It was home where I learned to bake delicious Christmas cookies with my mom and grandmothers. It was a place that my friends could come to and have a fun moment or two or three. It was the place that my Dad came to each night when he returned home from work. It was a place where a lot of memories were made. Home. More than anything else, it was where I could be free to just be me.

Sometimes me being me resulted in some crazy escapades, and as I look back I see that God’s hand was in everything that went on in my life. The good, the bad and the ugly were all there to teach me to turn to him. I see that now, more than I saw it then. God led me on a journey, and what I did not realize was that he was giving me free will to make choices, while longing that I would choose what he designed for me. I finally realized that concept as an adult, thank goodness!

Yet, as the world pulled at me, and school and friends and family and church, the one constant was still “Home.” Home was where our hearts were, home is where we always came back to, even when we got married and had our own families and were creating our own homes. Home was family, a safe place (sadly, I know it’s not that for many, but our heavenly Father is preparing that safe place for his beloved children).

These days, I find myself doing an E.T. I keep looking up and saying, “Home”—a place of peace, of beauty, and our God. I can’t even imagine the splendor of how it will be, but my heart longs for it, for home. A place of comfort, no more tears, no fighting, no wars, just the beauty of spending the rest of our days with our Creator. A place of true freedom to be shared with Our Creator. Home, a place to be free from our selfish, sinful selves. Home . . . a place of wonderful, real and everlasting love. Home, a place where God meant us to be.

Home.