By the Way: At home, and there’s no place like it

By Medicine Hat News on September 16, 2017.

Recently I’ve been part of an exchange of emails detailing the anguish and destruction caused by storms on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

A cousin’s daughter and her partner have lost their condo and its contents, their jobs and security, to Hurricane Irma. Her parental home is Calgary; his is Florence, Italy. They have been evacuated to North Carolina. So where is “home” for these two young adults?

One of my first jobs after college was working for a government social agency which adopted children to new parents, and supervised others who were in dire — and risky — straits. In the 1960s, the mindset of society as reflected by family court judges was to keep children in their homes, and return them to their homes — at all costs.

Home is where the heart is. Charity begins there.

Home is home, be it ever so humble. There’s no place like it.

Home is where — when you have to go there — they have to take you in É and many other platitudes!

In July we had the pleasure — once-in-a-lifetime, I think — of visiting in the home of a third cousin in Edinburgh, Scotland. We had never met, and likely never will again. But after an evening of comparing notes and making family connections, we felt quite at home. If I believed in re-incarnation, I might be convinced I had lived in Scotland sometime in my past!

There are places of residence — and there are homes. There are million-dollar mansions where no one feels at home, including the occupants. There are basic living quarters which are so hospitable and welcoming, everyone wants to be there.

Remember Jesus’ story of the wayward “Prodigal Son?” In his youthful rebellion, he couldn’t wait to get away from home and out from under parental control. After wasting his inheritance and finding himself on the streets, home didn’t actually seem so bad!

And he was received back home into the warm, forgiving embrace of his father. Once he was lost, but then he had been found.

The concept of “home” means different things to different people. And it’s not a matter of material stuff, or apparent circumstances.

Home is where you are comfortable and content in your own skin, and with yourself and your place in the world. So even those who have been uprooted and removed from familiar surroundings and loved ones and happier times, can find safety and security once again.

And for those of us who have never experienced anything but the comfort of the familiar, and the love of family and friends, we can offer welcome and hospitality and a gracious reception.

Strangers truly can be those new friends we are just getting to know.

Let’s stretch those ties that bind our hearts in acceptance and love. Life today is not a picnic for lots of our fellow citizens, and for many reasons. But maybe we can help at least one or two,feel more at home.

Bob Cruickshank is a retired Presbyterian minister who is at home in Medicine Hat.

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