Do you remember ever going to summer camp or a school trip as a child and missing home something crazy? Writing letters home everyday or begging to use a phone to call your parents? Maybe even cutting your week short because you just couldn't stay away from home one more day?
Even if you weren't one of those kids-- so many of us have had the experience at one time in our lives or another of this week's word: homesick.
Homesick: a longing to return home.
To be homesick is to experience a deep longing, a deep dissatisfaction with the way life used to be but is no longer.
You can be homesick over the loss of a job or a friendship that offered a community of deep belonging.
You can be homesick for a time when your children were little, when assisted living was not necessary, or when a spouse or loved one was alive or had their memories intact.
You can be homesick for a state of mind, a feeling of peace or comfort that once offered purpose and direction.
Homesick is not just about missing a physical location.
Are you homesick for anything right now?
Take a minute and say it aloud.
Ultimately homesickness is about grief. It's about the insecurity of not knowing what to do in an unfamiliar space. It's about feeling like the wheels of control have flown off without a guide as to how to put it back together.
It's hard to find your footing when you're homesick for something or someone. Everything in this state of mind feels more complicated than it should. Sigh.
Yet, if there is anything I know for sure it's that sometimes God calls you to dream in the present tense of your actual life.
By this I don't mean that you ignore or belittle the pain or loss of homesickness in you, but figure out how to dream in new ways where you are.
To notice where hope might bubble up again. To pay attention to joy's surprises. To lean into authentic conversations that might bring encouragement.
I'm hoping that in whatever you are homesick for this week, you'll feel the presence of a God who has promised to never leave or forsake you wherever life takes you.
XO
Elizabeth
