Today’s the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I’m still FULL!
Not just from all the food I ate, but from the company we kept and the conversations we had. Smiles and laughter, card games and hugs—and Robert having the day off—filled my heart to overflowing.
At times, though, I’ve been in a great environment surrounded by wonderful people and feel the opposite of full—not quite empty but a sad longing for more. Like when I was a child sleeping over at a friend’s house and bedtime came, and I missed home.
It used to bother me that I still experienced “homesickness” as an adult.
Now I expect it, understand it’s natural… and good.
God has set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV). We have an eternal house in heaven, built by God not human hands (2 Cor. 5:1). We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23).
Thank God we’re surrounded by love, friendship, wonder, and beauty on this earth; these things fill us, but they’re not meant to satisfy.
We can enjoy the temporary but should long for the fullness of eternity.
As George Bennard wrote in his hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross”:
Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share.