Today I am grateful for the feeling of being at home.  I just came from visiting Bob and Diane in their beautiful new home.  They have found the perfect spot for them  — a house just the right size on a beautiful piece of land with spectacular views.  It has the quiet and serenity that feeds their souls, and you can see it written all over their faces.  Bob and Diane waited a long time to find a place like this, and, along the way, lived in a place that was not-so-perfect for them.  But they are here now, and it has made all the difference. They describe finding this new home as nothing short of a miracle.

There is something miraculous about feeling at home where we are.  Feeling at home is a profound gift, one that at times doesn’t come easily.  Feeling at home is not always just about where you live. Life is filled with transitions — some voluntary, and some simply thrown at us.  Sometimes those transitions require a physical change in location to find a new home.  But many of them require a heart change, a soul change, and that can leave us feeling uncomfortable in our own skin, and a longing to, once again, feel at home, wherever we are.

2012 and 2103 were years a big transition for the Fisher Family.  Good things happened to us, but they required all kinds of change — moving to a new house, a new town, a new state; meeting lots of new people;  changing the rhythm of our work life and our family life.  For a long time, it was hard for me to feel at home anywhere.  But with time, I got the rhythm back.  And that which was so unfamiliar began to feel familiar.  And I was finally at home again.

You don’t get to that place by yourself.  Whenever we go through a transition, there is a period of time that is uncomfortable and unfamiliar.  But those people who walk with us and love us through those transitions are the ones that help us find our home again.

I am grateful for the sense of being at home, and for all the people and places that helped me get there along the way — my family, my friends, and especially for my community at St Thomas for always grounding me in what is truly important.

So — are you feeling at home these days?