Our Temporary Home

The lyrics to songs often speak to me in ways few other things can. I know. Such a manly admission. Hey - I didn't name an artist. So those of you who thought it was someone sappy . . . well you might have been right depending upon the song. I do like Josh Groban. He will make the bulky among you gag probably. Deal with it.

Seriously, there have been many occasions in life when songs seemed to reach me in ways few other things have been able to.

Last night, saddened by returning my children to their other half-home (mom's house), not because I do not want them to enjoy her love, rather because I am saddened they now must enjoy physically her's or mine, not both, I heard a song which brought tears to my heart. I cried both because I was sad at the new reality of my life absent my family and because the lyrics of the song were hopeful at the same time.

Sad and hopeful in the same song? Yes. The reality of life in a fallen world for anyone who is a believer.

The tune is one recorded by the country star, Carrie Underwood, "Temporary Home." It's words describe three hard scenarios; a child moving from foster home to foster home, a single mother in a shelter and a man, surrounded by loved ones, who knows he is experiencing his last breaths on this side of eternity. Each scenario spoke to me. I was fortunate to have a father and mother, so loving, that I experienced the joy of foster brothers and sisters on almost a dozen occasions as a child. Our home was a haven for little boys and girls who had been spit out by the storms of this life. And, our home was in each case, their "temporary home." My children now live in a home with a single mom. Regardless of how she got there recent events suggest she's finding it less the fairy tale than she imagined. And, the challenges it presents on the way to some new man, will roll down to Ashton, Alexys and Andrew. I ask God's prayer that they understand, this life, with this bitter pill is only, their "temporary home." Finally, in those moments when I allow anxiety over the uncertainties of this new life to overwhelm me with a range of emotions (up until recently almost all negative), I hope the Holy Spirit will remind me that one day I may be that old man. Surrounded by those who love me, I will look into the imperfect eyes of each for the last time and be struck by how quickly our lives here together have passed, how insignificant many of the things I worried about were and how wonderful it will be to see each of those sets of eyes perfected one day in heaven. After all, our time together up to that moment will all have been spent here and this is only our "temporary home."

Do you realize that fact? Would a stranger describe the actions of your life today and say, "It's clear from his or her actions and reactions that he or she recognizes clearly this is a "temporary home?'" Really? When your child of any age chooses something today you'd rather he or she didn't, will your response to the action demonstrate that the moment is a stop, "On the way to where we are goin'?" If you are blessed to be married or in a significant relationship and a disagreement occurs, would a stranger observing your response sense that your love for the other person was based upon the reality that this is your "temporary home" together and the goal is a more permanent one? If the answer to either is, or ever has been "No," as mine so often was - it's not to late to change those observations.

Whether you life country music or Carrie Underwood, allow these words to wash over you. Allow them to change the way you see the rest of today and tomorrow if God provides one. It will be over quickly, though sometimes it feels otherwise. No matter the hardship remember, believers in the one who has built a home for you that will last after the light of the stars has been extinguished, "Windows and rooms, we're just passing through, this is our temporary home . . .


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if7CZF_ycWQ


Thanks to the songwriter, Ms. Underwood and the creator of this YouTube video for being used to touch me.