Where the Heart Is – May 30, 1999
A teacher felt compassion for a young boy in her class whose father had been out of work for some months. The family had moved several times and was currently living in a government shelter. Sympathetically, the teacher said, “It must be difficult to have no home.” But the boy quickly and emphatically explained that his family did have a home—at the moment they simply did not have a place to put their home.
If a home is not the same thing as a house, what is it? The old axiom says that “home is where the heart is.” The young schoolboy must have known his heart was safely in the keeping of his family, and thus, though outwardly unsettled, he felt at home.
An older man was born in coal mining country, then lived for many years in desert country and later in the valleys of a great mountain range. His new move had taken him to a place of rolling green hills with few trees or shrubs, but crowned by a great dome of sky that was ever dramatic, yet peaceful. For a reason he could not explain, the man felt he had “come home” at last.
Every heart deserves a home. But in today’s world of frequent travel, continual changes, and family upheavals, how do we meet the need for a place to feel “at home”?
A much-loved hymn affirms that “there is beauty all around when there’s love at home.” Perhaps love is the key to feeling at home. No matter where life may lead us—to a new land, to a military installation, to the residence of our adult children, to an assisted-living community—if we can find something to love, we have a home. Perhaps, at first, what we love may be nothing more than the song of birds in the morning. We may learn to love a different climate or a room that seems beautifully filled with light. From there, we can move to loving and serving those around us—family, friends, or strangers.
We feel at home when surrounded by things we love—people, places, sounds and smells. When we offer love to the people and the world around us, we come to feel they belong to us and us to them. A heart filled with love is a heart comfortably at home.
Program #3641