The Back Page
By Sue Ferguson
Home is defined in the dictionary as “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household”. I have been pondering the idea of what home is of late, as we have a family member who is contemplating leaving home and moving into an assisted living situation. She has called her house a home for over 54 years. Kids have come and gone, parents and grandparents have passed, a husband left for a hospice knowing he was never coming back. The house is still there, the memories abide, but the “family” has changed.
I left my family home in Simcoe in the fall of 1998 not knowing when I would be back, as love led me on a path to be with my sick boyfriend in Colorado. I was such a homebody all my life really. When I was attending University in London for 4 years, I came home nearly every weekend to be home with my parents. I could never have seen myself moving away from Simcoe. As it turns out, Colorado was not a bad place to call home! George and I settled into our life there quite nicely, and still enjoyed many opportunities to visit our families in Simcoe for the holidays. Perhaps my parents would not have seen it quite the same way, as I was living far more than just a few hours drive away!
George and I settled nicely into a condo overlooking the Rocky Mountains shortly after we were married. That felt like our own real “grown up” home. Sihler was born and spent the first few months of his life there. It was a tough decision, but once we found out that George's cancer had returned, we sold that condo and moved in with our best friends Dan and Amy Bennett. They had a house that was more than large enough to accommodate the three of us and their family of four as well. It wasn't our own home, but what made it home were the people within those walls. We ate meals together, the kids played together, and we prayed together.
I sometimes wonder if George knew when he was taken out on a stretcher in the middle of the night that he was not coming back home, for he would soon be in his Heavenly home. I took great comfort in living with friends who shared my faith and held my hand in those dark times. I would not have felt that same comfort and safety if we had still been in that little condo. God placed us right where we were supposed to be, and I am thankful for that to this day.
Is it that easy to say God places us where we are supposed to be? How about leaving after living in the same house for over 54 years? Perhaps it is not that easy, but for those who possess that cornerstone of faith in Jesus, I believe it lessens the pain. That kind of faith gave me strength to move back to Simcoe after some heartache and hard goodbyes in Colorado. I came back to the comfort of my family home, missing a piece of my heart, but seeing new life in my baby boy who was a gift from God. He would connect with his grandparents while spending time in both my and his Father's family homes.
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.’” (Isaiah 28:16)
Now I have made a home with a man who shares my faith and helped to heal my heart. He had moved on from a cozy home once too in another life. I know this home will not be ours forever, but beyond these walls our faith will unite us in Heaven one day. As members of God's family, that will be our permanent home. Whatever sort of home in which you find yourself, and wherever you may have to transition in the future while here on Earth, may you have that cornerstone foundation of Jesus Christ to help you along the way. All of those comforts of “home” whether it be your favourite chair, the voice of a lost loved one, the smell of your Gran's home cooking, or the cozy fireplace in your den, He is all of those things for you. If you let Him take your hand, He can give you peace, and wherever you are, if He abides in you, you will be home.
