I'll be home for Christmas

Yesterday I had a day off. No work and nothing in the diary - which hasn't happened very often of late. I'm weary, so my one good thing was to stay in bed till lunchtime. It was bliss. I then watched back to back Christmas movies whilst pottering round the house and potting up the tree. (I'd worried it might not have good roots, but we actually had to cut it out of its original pot it was growing so vigorously) Something struck me about the Christmas films..... They seem to have one of two plots. Either an american workaholic female ends up in Scotland or some fictional country and meets and marries a prince, or someone who lives and works in the big city comes home to their rural birthplace for some spurious reason and ends up realising the joys of family and home and the simple life. I suppose its no surprise that at Christmas we want to watch romance and feel-good stuff. But what is it about the notion of ' home' that is so appealing? Home isnt merely about a building or a geographical place ( although of course it can be). I dont think its even about the people who love you and make you feel safe. I think perhaps ' home' is a feeling that one gets when a sense of nostalgia for good times mixes with the comfort of the familiar and the joy of belonging. It is found in the smells of certain rooms and the feel of the wallpaper on the landing. It's the shared stories and history with certain people who are associated with your past. Im sure people can feel at home in a new house in a new town and even a new country. But the ' home' of the movies is that ideal of a safe happy, deeply familiar place. I think deep down we all have a yearning for that. Christmas highlights the importance of having a home, being at home, coming home. People travel to spend a few days with those they love. We ask each other who is coming for Christmas. Loneliness is an unseen pandemic all year every year affecting so many - but somehow at Christmas is seems so much worse. Dec 25th is just aother day - but if you dont have a home or anyone to spend that day with it must be expecially difficult and sad. When I was looking for an image to illustrate the point I found this. It made me smile because it's true....... but its also true.
Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us in His Father's house. Paul tells us ' For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. ( 2 Cor 5 :1-5)' I imgine it might be a tiny little bit like the Christmas films - we will have spent a lifetime working in the big city, being busy doing life, trying hard but yearning for the fresh air and familiarity and comfort of our true home. And then one day we will make it home. The lights will be on, the fire will be lit. There will be our favourite food on the table and our favourite people round it. Our bed will be super comfortable and we shall sleep better than we've ever slept before. And the sound of the worship of the ages will be rising all around to the God who is sitting on His throne - our Father.

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