I am living the dream that every college graduate has – living at home with the parents.
JK haha. It is not that bad. (Love you, Mom. Love you, Dad.)
But… moving around has made me evaluate what home actually is.
I keep having these thoughts about what it means to be at home. I just moved “home” to get ready to leave in January, and I know this place so well. This home is the one I grew up in, the one with my parents. This home is not only the physical place that I have so many memories in, but also the one where I have support from my family and great friends to interact with. But, this is not the only home I’ve had. I had a home at Anderson University for five years. In that home, I had 5 different homes that I physically lived in. So… is home the university as a place, or is it each of the dorms, apartments, and houses I lived in? I had another home in Michigan at the camp I worked at during the last two summers. That home involved meeting new people, living in a Teepee once, seeing God in new ways, and learning how to drive a boat.
So, what does home actually mean?
I recently re-watched a TED Talk discussing this very thing. Pico Iyer (who is AMAZING) gives a wonderful talk about how “…for more and more of us, home has really less to do with a piece of soil than, you could say, with a piece of soul.” He continues on and asks, “If somebody suddenly asks me, ‘Where’s your home?’ I think about my sweetheart or my closest friends or the songs that travel with me wherever I happen to be.”
He gives a beautiful description of what God gives us to comfort us when we are in an unfamiliar place or situation. No matter where we go, or what we are doing, we can have reminders of home – the place. That is so cool.
Another point that Iyer talks through is that “home… is not just the place where you happen to be born. It’s the place where you become yourself.” That was interesting to hear again. People keep telling me that The Race is going to change me more than I could ever change the lives of the people I meet, so I can’t be afraid to see the places I go on the Race as my home. It may not be permanent or long-term, but it will probably be a place that I will become more of who God wants me to be – more of myself.
I have already found that God has changed me in the past 7 months since I decided to do the World Race. He has changed the way I think, the way that I talk to Him, and how I view situations around me. God has challenged me to think differently and really look at where I’m at.
I believe that God has a plan for not only where He wants me to be, but WHO He wants me to be. Where is my Home going to be? No idea. How is God going to help me be who He wants me to be? No idea. My physical home is Mishawaka, IN, but I don’t know what kind of places will become part of my bigger idea of Home – the one that God has prepared for me.
If someone asked you, where would you say your Home is?
k hills
Favorite Quote of the Moment: “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
