Monday Dec 30th

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blessed:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man 

Homesickness is a really horrible thing.  I remember when I first moved to Northern Ireland from Scotland nearly sixteen years ago I felt terribly and dreadfully homesick.  I cried for six months.  I didnt know anyone at all in Ireland except Keith and his mother.  Id left my lovely house, my best friends, my church, my job, my family - everything - behind and embarked on the new adventure of married life.  I didnt realise just how difficult the change would be and what a huge hole would be left in my life.  Id taken so much of it for granted and now it wasnt there.  I longed for the people and the places which made me feel comfortable and safe and ' me'.   For months and months I spent all my time introducing myself. Telling my story to people over and over.  Nobody knew who I was, what my gifts were.  They didnt trust me because they didnt know me - and I found that very difficult.   I didnt feel loved - accepted, yes, but not loved.  Love takes time doesnt it?  

Alexander Pope in the words above says that the soul is ' uneasy and confined from home'  .  Homesick.   Kept away from everything familiar and safe and comfortable and good.  Foreign.  A stranger.  

How homesick must Jesus have felt as He left the glory and warmth and companionship and peace of heaven to come down to a grubby, sinful, hateful, cold earth as a baby?   How must His soul have longed and yearned to be back with His Father?  We catch glimpses of it throughout His life but we can never really know how He felt.

This week I have had an amazing discussion with many of my Facebook friends about depression.   So many of us are struggling with that feeling of unease.  We don't 'fit'.  We are not content.  We are longing for something different, better, for wholeness and peace and love.   Yes, I do believe it is possible to achieve much more of that here on earth than many of us are experiencing right now.  We can all draw closer to God, be more surrendered, more open to being loved by Him.   But to some extent this side of heaven we are destined to be ' uneasy'.  Always longing for a home we have not yet reached.  

The amazing gift of Christmas is that Jesus suffered homesickness for us so that he could make a way for us to go home.  '  He left His Father's home above, so free so infinite His grace, emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race'.   We are in the world but we belong somewhere else.  Which is why we sometimes feel like aliens and refugees here.  And why we should have particular compassion on the homeless and the dispossessed.  We know how they feel.

Jesus, as we look forward to Christmas and remember the way that you came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem we want to thank you again for everything You gave up for us.  Thank you that You freely chose to leave the wonders of heaven to walk the earth.  Thank you that you limited Yourself to the body of a man and the language of humanity so that You could bring us home.   Thank You that we belong with You, to You and that You have prepared a place for us.   We long for it.  Help us to live well as we wait.    Amen