Homesick

It is the typical question in a family with multiple children.
Mom, am I your favorite?
Every child wants to hear that they are loved the best…the most.
Every mother knows that she loves each of her children and does not have favorites!

Susanna Wesley had 19 children.
Nine of her children died as infants.
Of the ten remaining children, we would recognize one son, in particular.
Charles Wesley, wrote many of the hymns we sing in church.
Hymns like Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.

Susanna was once asked which of her ten surviving children she loved the most.
She gave a remarkable answer.
“The one who is sick until he’s well, and the one who’s away from home until he’s back.”

That became my answer to my own children when the inevitable question came up.
I really do love them all!
I love them differently…in the way their uniqueness speaks to my heart.

I was driving today and chose to listen to Amy Grant on my iPod.
I was listening to older CD’s I haven’t heard for a while.
A song came on…that I had forgotten.
The lyrics were so moving…I felt tears streaming down my face.

In a little while,
We’ll be with the Father;
Can’t you see Him smile?
In a little while,
We’ll be home forever,
In a while….
We’re just here to learn to love Him;
We’ll be home in just a little while.

(“In A Little While” by Grant, Keister, Bannister, Chapman)

Do you ever have that happen?
You hear a song and something way down deep inside responds to it.
Perhaps it is the melody…perhaps the lyrics.
The song hits a place that is buried deep inside ourselves.
We are surprised at the depth of our reaction.

Think how many times a day we say…I’m going home.
We actually mean “home”…the place where we live…the place where our family is.
Home…the place that causes you to take a long, lingering breath…savoring its sweetness.

No matter how wonderful our home is here…it is not Home.
We are passing through, on the way to another Place.

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Set eternity in our hearts.
Could that be what it is?
Could that be the explanation for the incredible longing we just can’t explain?
The longing for a place we have never been…but a place we know so well.

In a little while we’ll be with the Father, can’t you see Him smile?…so sang Amy.
None of us know how long that “little while” might be.
I like the thought that the Father is smiling.
In a little while we’ll be home forever…in a while.

I know many dear friends who have lost loved ones.
They hold onto that promise with a white knuckle grasp.
They know they will be together…soon…in a little while.

We’re just here to learn to love him…we’ll be home in just a little while.

When asked which commandment is the most important, Jesus answered,
“The most important one is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:28-30)

Love God with everything you have…every cell…every beat of your heart.
Learn to love Him.

Not an academic learning…anyone can do that!
Rather a “from the heart” learning…from the depths of our soul.

We all have heard music played very technically.
Not a note is missed…not one mistake.
Flawless…but no heart!

We have all heard music played from someplace deep down inside.
The musician bares his soul through his instrument.
It is raw and honest…intrusive…private…simply beautiful!

My tears came today from that place.
Nothing was wrong.
I was longing for Home…because He put that longing in me.

God the Father created us with a sort of homing device that longs for Heaven.
People deny it exists.
They blame their longing on other things.
They look for ways to satisfy that untouchable longing.
But nothing will!

Nothing will satisfy until we know the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Nothing will satisfy…until we are Home…in the Place we were created to be.

And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Suzanna Wesley said more than she knew.
The one who is sick until he’s well…and the one who’s away from home until he’s back.

Can’t you hear God the Father answering that question?

Father, which one of Your children do You love the most?
My child…the one who is sick with sin…until he’s well with My forgiveness.
The one who is away from Me…until he is back Home.

In a little while…