Home part 5
Sometimes you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. That's why the grass always looks greener on the other side. Familiarity breeds comtempt. You get stuck in a rut--which is just a grave with the ends kicked out--and you start to feel like where you're at is where you're going to be forever. That snapshot mentality that I talk about so often. But I think it's important to understand that sometimes you are exactly where you need to be. At least for now. Because it came to pass, not to stay. Tough times don't last, tough people do. And when you either A. Nail your ear to the door or B. Come to the end of yourself... you find that home is where the heart is. Jesus is the door. So when you nail your ear to Jesus, or lay your head on his breast, you can hear the heartbeat of God. You can hear the word "love" coming out with each beat. And when you begin to fill yourself with that love... it comes out. Naturally. Because you've already been filled to overflowing with it. You're filling yourself with what you've been filled with. You're apprehending what you've been apprehended of. You're fighting the good fight of faith by laying hold of eternal life. Laying hold of the gift you've already been given. Receiving it and releasing it. Knowing it and believing it. Appreciating what you've got BEFORE it's gone. Counting your blessings, as they say. Knowing where you're REALLY at--the Promised Land, the Kingdom--which stops you from trying to go somewhere else. Remember: Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you HAVE to. And it doesn't mean you SHOULD. Follow your heart. Trust your gut. Know where your heart is. Because that's where your home is. "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7). The heart is our guide. The heart is our true identity. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. God in the flesh. Love in a body. Jesus. So if home is where your heart is... and you KNOW where your heart is... then wherever you go, that's your home. Being a thermostat, instead of a thermometer. SETTING the temperature, instead of just reading it. Shining your light wherever you go, because it's not hidden under a basket. The hidden man of the heart no longer hidden. The mystery--Christ in you the hope of glory--revealed. The Word MADE flesh. Charity. Love in action. If you're always looking for something you WILL miss out on what you've got. But if you know what you've got then you can share it. Experience it. Give it away. And when others pick up what you're laying down... then THEY come home to. Home, to the loving arms of their heavenly Father. Home, to the place where they belong. You can help people experience that. But not until YOU experience it. Not until YOU are home. They say charity starts at home, right? You can't help others until you help yourself first. On an airplane you put YOUR oxygen mask on first, and then help others. Fill YOURSELF to overflowing. Strengthen YOURSELF in the Lord. And then you'll have something to give. Something to share. You'll know what you've got... and then you'll be able to enjoy it, and share it.