It’s time to come home.
Remember those trips you were so excited to take. You go off on an adventure, wide-eyed and so glad to get away. And much of it is great.
But along the way, you get into one of those snippy, on-vacation arguments. The beds and pillows are never quite right and you don’t sleep well. You get tired of eating out and finding the right food. And then there is the dread of navigating the airport chaos, or the fatigue of the long, tedious drive.
Trips are wonderful, AND there’s nothing like coming home.
For most of us, the home is safe place. What a gift! There is a palpable shift that happens when we arrive home from our trips, or work, our running of errand. We kick off our shoes and settle in.
This home is a steady place with a quiet presence. Our mind, body, and heart downshift as we move into the rhythms and sights of our familiar home life. Finally, we’re surrounded again by the comforts we call our own, the small things that are packed with history and stories. The walls and furniture have a way of embracing us even amidst some clutter and things that need fixing.
The wider world has a way of making us forget our sense of home. In this age of overwhelm, any foray into the news or the neighborhood is likely to expose us to things that are disturbing or scary. When we are gripped by fear or a sense of chaos, even though we may be within our familiar four walls, we don’t feel at home.
It’s time to come home!
This is the call we received as children, outside at play. It’s time to come home! is also the call of the spiritual life.
For us spiritual beings, coming into a deep sense of presence in ourselves is like a homecoming. In the same way we can come back to the peaceful, familiar embrace of our house or apartment, we can come home to a quiet mind, an open heart, and grounded body.
Amidst the overwhelm, this ability to find presence in ourselves is one of the most counter-cultural forces on the planet. The hopeful truth is that presence is always as near as our next breath.
Jane Hooper invites us into this homecoming through her poem, Please Come Home. I wish for you beautiful homecomings in the days ahead, as I leave you with a few of her verses:
Please come home. Please come home.
Find the place where your feet know to walk
And follow your own trail home.
Please come home. Please come into your own body,
Your own vessel, your own earth.
Please come home into each and every cell
And fully into the space that surrounds you.
Please come home. Please come home to trusting yourself,
and your instincts and your ways and your knowings,
And even the particular quirks of your personality.
Please come home. Please come home and once you are firmly there,
please stay home awhile and come to deep rest within.
Please treasure your home. Please love and embrace your home.
Please get a deep, deep sense of what it's like to be truly home. . . .
Please come home. Please come home,
and when you feel yourself home, please welcome us too.
For we too forget that we belong and are welcome,
and that we are called to express and fully be who we are. . . .
Please come home. Please come home. Please come home.