“Home” can mean many things to many people. What does it mean for God to place eternity in our hearts?
By Jonna Meidal
Home can be a word that conjures up a myriad of emotions based on one’s family of origin. Some might hear it and think,
Love
Discord
Warmth
Hypocrisy
For me, home has been all of those things, which is why I struggled to write about it. How do you encapsulate something so fragmented? So complicated and diverse?
God sat me down recently to simplify it. Like the seasoned author he is, I imagined him dipping his feathered pen in a well of wise ink and saying, “Sweet daughter, let’s write this together.”
He summed it up in just three words: Home is heaven.
watered-down platitudes don’t resonate with me
Now, this might seem cliché, but I didn’t grow up in the church, so watered-down platitudes don’t resonate with me. I therefore think God is onto something when he placed eternity in the human heart (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). There has to be a reason—heaven must be more home and less religion. Even still, what do we do with the displacement we feel now?
I’ve experienced this discontentment. Growing up, I had two homes—one that felt like a metaphorical house fire, and the other that was more like a tree house to be forgotten in. As a mother to three girls now, I find myself striving to build a better home for them, but what could be better than heaven?
Therein lies the tension.
This earth is not our home. Some might feel depressed by that, but I personally find it reassuring to know that a brick-and-mortar building isn’t the holy grail. And home isn’t where the heart is, either, because our hearts often deceive us (see Jeremiah 17:9). Which leads me back to God and how what he’s saying must be true—that our search for belonging goes beyond blue tufted chairs and into a still-soft feeling of knowing that generation upon generation will one day live together in unity.
This isn’t cliché. This is
Hope
Comfort
Joy
Peace
Waiting for eternity emboldens us to seek out our true lineage
Waiting for eternity emboldens us to seek out our true lineage—a place undefined by background, socioeconomics, or how well we impersonate Joanna Gaines on a Friday night. It leads us to find that our true citizenship comes from heaven. Period.
So how does this translate into our daily lives? Simply put, here on earth we need to focus on what really matters. This could mean simplifying our material possessions so we can organize less and connect more. It could mean forgiving a family member, or breaking bread with a neighbor who is seemingly very different from us. Focusing on the things of heaven, on what is “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable” (Philippians 4:8) will help us find more peace here on earth as we wait for our Father to say to us . . .
Welcome home.
Jonna Meidal is a mother to three wild and zany daughters and a wife to the funniest man on the planet. She is a writer, educator, birth doula, and travel junkie who can’t get through the day without Jesus and popcorn. You can read more of what she’s been up to at jonnameidal.com or follow her adventures on Instagram @jonnameidal.
Scripture quotation is from the New Living Translation of the Bible.