This article was first published in Tabletalk, the Bible study magazine of Ligonier Ministries. Find out more at TabletalkMagazine.co.uk or try it free for three months today at TryTabletalk.co.uk.
An accident occurs. A disease strikes. A birth has complications. Fear grips us. A trip gets prolonged. A deployment is ordered. A return is delayed. Anxiety takes hold. And then, those sweet words, sometimes sweeter than we can bear: ‘She’s going home.’ ‘They’re on their way.’ ‘They’re sending him home.’ The distress has built like water behind a dam, and at the first sight of that absent loved one, the relief bursts through.
I love to watch reunion videos, especially of soldiers returning after deployments. Upon seeing these people again after they’ve been gone, often in danger, their loved ones can’t seem to hug them hard enough. Children come running, and wives collapse in grateful tears. Likewise, nearly all of us have had a loved one experience a long hospital stay. We are, of course, grateful for hospitals and the healing they bring. But we don’t want to be there forever, and we don’t want our friends and family there forever. We want them home.
When our loved ones are gone, something is not right. When they come home, even if there are still hard circumstances to navigate, something is right again. Home is just where they should be.
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