thoughts on the news of the day: home

hmmm…..

            Had to say goodbye yesterday to my favorite daughter (who happens to be my only daughter) after a great week in Wimberley, TX in the Texas Hill Country.  It’s terrain is much like the Ozarks – but with cedar bush-like trees instead of our real ones.  Oh, and we have real mountains and theirs are pretty much just tall hills.  So I guess it’s not really like the Ozarks at all, but somehow I have always felt at home there.

            Home is where your Mom is.  That’s kind of how it is if you have lived in many different locations throughout your childhood. Being a pastor has taken me and my daughter to many different locations throughout Texas and Oklahoma, so it’s hard to pinpoint “home”.  I used to think of “home” as Tulsa.  I grew up there and lived in the same house growing up until I left home after college to move to Dallas.  My Dad still lives in that same home.

            But since my daughter had a different experience, living in many different locations, home means her comfortable Austin stone house in the Hill country, complete with 2 car garage, fenced yard and a sweet doggie in the living room.  So maybe “home” is where your stuff is.  Maybe home is where you park yourself at night, where you lay your head.

            I like the saying “home is where your heart is” --  which means, I guess, that “home” is a state of mind. It’s a place that means security, love, protection and safety. And that can mean anywhere.  So my prayer today is that you find yourself “at home”  wherever you are ….

            hmmm…..