I recently accepted an offer for a job. And not just any job, but my very first, full-time, “big girl” job. Starting in May, I can be found in Birmingham catering to the needs of the geriatric population so far as my speech-language pathology degree will let me. I am thrilled– and probably equally as terrified.
For the past 24 years I have been able to look forward to the “next big thing” in my life. When I wasn’t satisfied in the dreary days of high school I had the promise of a new life in college to keep me going. When I didn’t feel settled with life in college, I had the hope of new experiences in grad school fast approaching. When I feel like there is more to life than what I’m experiencing now, I daydream about new beginnings as a young adult in a big city.
Up until now I’ve been able to look to the next big thing. Up until now each phase of my life has been temporary- has come with a set deadline. When I sit back and think about how this next phase doesn’t come with that guaranteed end date, well, I don’t exactly know how I feel. Excited. Scared. Thankful. Anxious. Safe. Claustrophobic? All of these and so many more contradictory feelings begin to flood my head and my heart. I may not be able to rely on that next big thing to keep me going anymore. So what will I do when I don’t feel restful or settled where I am in life? PRAISE GOD!
As frightening as it is to not feel “at home” in this world, we can’t forget how dangerous it is to feel at home in this world or to seek comfort in our earthly home. This world is not our home.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20)…”
Our time in this world is temporary. We may not know when it will end, but it will. Why then, would we not spend so much more time preparing for our home in Heaven? Or find our hope in Christ, through whom we have eternal life?
While I, and so many others around me, prepare for the next big thing, it is my prayer that we never become guilty of being too comfortable, or feeling too at home- but that we continually feel God calling us closer and closer to Him and His Kingdom, our true and permanent home.
“We know that our body—the tent we live in here on earth—will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever. But now we groan in this tent. We want God to give us our heavenly home, because it will clothe us so we will not be naked. While we live in this body, we have burdens, and we groan. We do not want to be naked, but we want to be clothed with our heavenly home. Then this body that dies will be fully covered with life. This is what God made us for, and he has given us the Spirit to be a guarantee for this new life. So we always have courage. We know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. We live by what we believe, not by what we can see. So I say that we have courage. We really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord. Our only goal is to please God whether we live here or there, because we must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each of us will receive what we should get—good or bad—for the things we did in the earthly body (2 Corinthians 5:1-10).”
Elizabeth Burson
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