Grace will lead me home

I want to go home.

I’m not even really sure where that is, or what I’m homesick for.

And then this familiar phrase becomes a revelation spiraling its way down deep inside

Grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home

It’s all grace. Everything is gift. There are no rights. Nothing is earned or deserved. All is gift.

The thing with gifts is that you can’t make them happen.  Most of the time you don’t even realize they are coming.

Someone else chooses what you would like. Someone else does the work to find exactly the right thing. Someone else pays the price…

The best gifts are not earned or expected. They are given out of love and generosity. The are sacrificial and personal.  They are a widow’s mite, a child’s affection, a cello. They are everyone who knows all your junk and still loves you. They are eternity wrapped up in an infant. They are an Only Son, given and given and given. They are pure grace.

All we do is receive, with gratitude.

I want to go home and that’s exactly where Grace is leading me. The journey is all gift. I can stop worrying about the details and stop trying to plan the route. I can trust the how and the who, the what and the where, the why and the when, to Grace. All is gift. He has brought me safe this far, and will surely lead me all the way home.

 

 

Thoughts on home

Here is Spurgeon’s reflection for the day on being at home in God. It’s amazing how much inspiration can be drawn out of six short words from The Word.

~

“The eternal God is thy refuge.”

Deuteronomy 33:27

The word refuge may be translated as “mansion,” or “abiding place,” which gives the thought that God is our abode, our home. There is a fullness and sweetness in the metaphor, for dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest cottage or scantiest garret; and dearer far is our blessed God, in whom we live, and move, and have or being. It is at home that we feel safe: we shut the world out and dwell in quiet security. So when we are with our God we “fear no evil.” He is our shelter and retreat, our abiding refuge.

At home, we take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when, wearied with life’s conflict, we turn to him, and our soul dwells at ease.

At home, also, we let our hearts loose; we are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being misconstrued. So when we are with God, we can commune freely with him, laying open all our hidden desires; for if “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,” the secrets of them that fear him, ought to be, and must be, with their Lord.

Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness: and it is in God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy in him which far surpasses all other joy.

It is also for home that we work and labor. The thought of it gives strength to bear the daily burden, and quickens the fingers to perform the task; and in this sense we may also say that God is our home. Love to him strengthens us. We think of him the person of his dear Son; and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer constrains us to labor in his cause. We feel that we must work, for we have brethren yet to be saved, and we have our Father’s heart to make glad by bringing home his wandering sons; we would fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell. Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!

James K.A. Smith, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

I was reading  Fors Clavigera, the blog of James K A Smith, when I stumbled upon a delightful piece of information – he’s an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero’s fan. My friend Alli raves about this band, so I have become somewhat familiar with a few of their songs and have been enjoying their eclectic and quirky mix of instrumentation and vocals.

‘Home’ is my favourite. It speaks of a recurring theme of my life, and playing it repeatedly while driving around Michigan recently with some very dear friends reinforced the idea that home for me is much more about people than places.

‘Janglin’ is also a lot of fun. The first time I listened to it I had to go straight to the piano so I could get the riff down. Some tunes just scream to be played. I include it here so it can be stuck in your head as well as mine. (Listen out for the siren at the very beginning. It makes you feel as though you’re outside at a street party on a hot summer night. Beautiful.)

Finally, ’40 day dream,’ because I like it.

“Bye bye to the too good to be true kind of love…”

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