Just passing through…
As the week ends, I realize I have still not covered all my post thoughts gleaned as we were driving home from Florida. I also realize that was two weeks ago and where those fourteen days went, they had wings that were flying way, way too fast.
We had our second to the last day of summer with our four grands yesterday. We can all hear the finale playing as next Tuesday will mark our farewell to summer hours with them. It is bittersweet. The start of school always is for this mom’s heart.
While there is an excitement about the new year ahead and a readiness to embrace more of a routine schedule, it is another year closer to their launch into the next phase of life where childhood is tucked away.
Why I never noticed how really short our years with them under the roof are until they were grown and flown escapes me. But this really isn’t my first rodeo and I have been keenly aware of the brevity of each phase since we held Graham in our arms and fell head over heels in a new kind of love.
So this thought I jotted down kind of fits in with all of that, if you can follow my musings.
We stayed in a condo apartment in the same facility the kids have used over the years on their 30A vacations. The complex is comfortable and familiar. It has a nice pool area and is close to the beach. Bigger bodies called for an extra bedroom, so Zach got a roomier place for us to stay.
These condos are always decorated in a beach vibe with bowls of shells, lots of blue in the walls and fabric and paintings of the ocean scattered on the walls. The owner of this one took it to a whole new level and there was a lot of table art and knickknacks everywhere.
Large shells were suspended in metal frames, breakables abounded, expensive lamps were clustered with ornate plant pots on every flat surface, and battery operated candles followed the cycles inside multiple matching lanterns. Everywhere.
The kitchen was stocked with enough plates, bowls and serving dishes to host a huge party. All manner of fancy drink glasses joined the serving pieces. It truly was beautiful and not the least bit intimidating to our crew.
No one acted like we didn’t live there. We all just piled in and claimed it as home for the next six days. Okay, we may have moved a couple of breakable statues off the end table right by the edge of the couch. But otherwise, we ate our Captain Crunch and popcorn wherever we could find a spot with a good view of the Olympics and Dude Perfect. Barware of all kinds were filled with lemonade, water and milk and left here and there.
We made ourselves at home even though we were just passing through.
And that’s where my musing started.
Planet earth is just a VRBO.
We do our best to make ourselves at home, but we are just passing through. Sometimes that is good news because things are pretty rough. We like the idea of this not being our home, but sometimes we settle in to the comfortable and aren’t so sure there can be anything better than what we have here.
However; the decor and the table settings, the view from the deck, the beach around the corner and the pool at the bottom of the stairs…it’s just a rental. It’s temporary.
But the life and heartbeat of where we live, the people we sit with, laugh with, fight with, cry with. The good we do, the bad we ask forgiveness for, the time we spend caring and loving and leading others to Jesus…this is eternal.
This is the brick and mortar of our real home.
May God helps us always to recognize and discern the difference between what is temporal and what is eternal. And may our hearts continue to long for Home, no matter how nice our current AirBNb is.
Blessings friends.
You are loved more than you could possibly know.
Take comfort in that. <3