From The Gospel for 5 Easter: 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.                                           Believe in God, believe also in me.                                            In my Father's house there are many dwelling places."                                       John 14:1-2a 

These verses speak deeply to me.  As You know, I am preparing to leave Maryland and go to seminary in Tennessee for three years. I will be leaving my home and community of 23 years. In getting our house ready to sell I have given away many possessions that I have treasured and stored over the years like a hope chest. This has been hard, but harder still is the pain of leaving my friends and community and the plans and dreams I had with them.  In this transition time I feel a lot of grief over detaching from so much of what has been a part of my live for so long. My heart has been troubled and to be perfectly honest I have felt scared. 

Until now, I have always thought of the "many dwelling places" that Jesus promised sort of like "rooms" in heaven. Now this transition in my life, more than any other has been about relying completely on God. It is about my relationship with God. Although I have always thought of my relationship to God as my true identity and my true home, now it is quite literally that. 

God has a plan for me, a better plan than I could ever imagine. I believe that, and I am staking my life on Him. I am letting go of my plans for my life (from my limited experience and dreams) to enter God's plans for me. God is preparing a place for me here and now - He is in my present and my future, (not just preparing a room in heaven.) I am learning that to be in relationship with God is dwelling in heaven even on earth! Yes, I am still scared, but deep in my heart I feel a calm and an affirmation that this is God's desire for me and that God is with me. 

Jesus assured his disciples: "If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." Jesus assures me that where he is, in relationship with God, that there I may be also and there is my true home, now and always. 

Thank you, Jesus for the relationship that you made possible; thank you for our home in God. May we always dwell with you; and especially in time of change and transition into the new and the unknown, that we may remember our true home. 

 

Blessings,