“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
John 14:1-3 ESV
This journey of building a house together has certainly been an adventure! It’s been amazing to dream together, choose a spot, pick designs and finishes. We’ve worked hard and we’ve said goodbye to the last chapter. Now we sit in transition…in the preparing place.
When people ask how we are doing, I often reply, “Well, we live in a hotel”. I promise, that’s not as fun or glamorous as it may sound! While the TownePlace Suites is nice enough, is pet-friendly, and gives us a little more room than the typical hotel room, it’s still not home.
And, while we are grateful to have a roof over our heads, we can’t help but long for home. We are counting down to the day when we are handed the keys to our new home and we can rest our heads there.
In the smallest of ways, it has me thinking about the home that awaits us in Heaven.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:1-7 ESV
While the difference between life on Earth and what awaits us when we are face to face with the One who created us is more than we can imagine, our situation has me thinking of it in a fresh way. While we are longing for a little more room to spread out and be comfortable here in our housing situation, may it turn our thoughts towards Heaven. May we long for the day of our Lord’s return and that moment when we will be finally home. In our discomfort, may we find challenge in expanding the Kingdom that our heavenly neighborhood be filled with those we meet here.
As our earthly home is being prepared, we continue to dream and plan. May it also be so as our heavenly home is being prepared.
The Giardino Journey 