ramblings

I was driving one of my girls back from school this morning (her teacher said she needed to be at home because she was sick) and had an "awwww" moment with her. We were listening to music and not talking much when she asked me, "Can we take cotton from the clouds?" She is 13 years old and I figured she was being silly, so I told her that it was illegal to do that. Her eyes got big and she said, "Really?!" It was then that I realized she was completely serious. How precious. I told her that it isn't possible to touch the clouds because it's just water and not anything tangible (in so many words). To which she responded, "Well, in Heaven we'll be able to walk on the clouds and not fall through." Seriously. Could you BE more precious? I love these moments.

Her comments about Heaven led me to thoughts about life and our perspective of life. I have been struggling with the idea of not having a home. I can't really identify one place that is home to me. The house I lived in for several years leading up to college isn't a place that I am welcomed into anymore. I love Indiana, but I only spent four years there and I don't have a place waiting for me. I live in Chino now, where I work, that's all it is - work. I don't work at my home; my home is where I work. I get sad thinking about my lack of a home, especially around the holidays this year. I want a place that is comfortable, that is loving and accepting. I want to be excited about going home for Christmas. But I'm not. The past couple of years, I haved wished for the holidays to come and quickly go so that I'm not reminded for too long of what I don't have.

However, then I started to think about what I do have. I have a Savior who unconditionally loves and relentlessly pursues me. I have a home in Heaven waiting for me. In Heaven! It should be difficult to be unhappy here on earth when I remember that I have so much more than I could ever imagine waiting for me beyond this life. Heaven is my home. What if we lived with this eternal perspective, realizing the bigger picture? I think our problems here would become so petty as our eyes would be opened to the work going on behind the scenes. God is bigger than my problems. In my weakness, He is strong.

The question I pose to myself and offer to you is this: How will my life change as I live in light of eternity?


Our view as my friends and I drove home from backpacking in the Smoky Mountains