Finally, Home.

Yesterday morning, I begrudgingly got out of bed, still exhausted from the previous day; however, I knew my mind wouldn’t let me stay.  Too many things racing to be lined up for the day.

 

So many changes this year—they came rushing in on the coattails of last year. We are no longer inching through weeks, months and years; we seem to be rushing headlong into 2024.  What does it hold?  For many people, much of the same as the last few years, for others, they are headed into the great unknown of dreams and plans long in the making.  Some are about to hold a brand-new life, whether their first or third baby, the changes that little one will make will impact the full 24 hours of every-single-day.  And many others are about to step into a new job or new school.  

 

Those on my mind this morning are the ones who have been handed a more drastic change of life—the last days of having a loved one close by.  All of these changes take time to process.  Some are blessed to have those extra months, but for others, this change in life happens so suddenly it takes their breath away and catapults them into an abyss of sorrow they never expected.  

Our family fell into the category of watching a loved one slip away over the last few years, as first the mind began to wander—and then the body began to fail.

 

You were the one on my mind yesterday morning when I grabbed my notebook and began to scrawl across the page the words below, describing what I could see our loved one’s experience in a place of the spirit that we don’t see physically.  Often the emotions or the spirit of us experience things that the camera of the physical eye cannot capture.  The paragraphs below are what I felt our loved ones, those who have followed Jesus Christ, may have experienced—not in a physical sense, but perhaps in their spirit.

 

Finally, Home.

 

The rocky mountain side was treacherous at times. Feet slipped more than a time or two, and gripping fingers became weary.  As the blood oozed from cuts made by the jagged rocks, they lost their grip.  Just as it would seem beyond their ability to climb, a fresh wind would blow, cooling, their sweat beaded brow, and a new energy developed. 

 

Suddenly surefooted with increasing strength to keep climbing, they come to a point where the next place to grip seems out of reach. They stretch the furthest, straining with all their might, realizing they cannot make it. Their feet seem frozen to the tiniest of crevices, where they found only a small ledge cut into the mountainside to rest on tiptoe. 

 

Tears sting as the wind whips hair around into a blinding curtain- when suddenly there appears an outstretched hand. Without even looking up to see who it might be, they grab the extended salvation from the treacherous climb.  As the hand pulls them higher, feet suddenly find wide places to plant themselves for security against the sharp, cutting edges of the mountain that loomed impossible from the start of the climb at the very bottom. 

 

When both feet finally land on the solid strength of the top of the mountain, the air seems suddenly sucked out of their lungs, while simultaneously replaced with oxygen that feels revitalizing, almost as if by a new birth, just as babies give their first lusty cry- unsure of what just happened. 

 

But unlike babies, there is no fear. There are no doubts. There is no pain. They draw in the air that feels fresh, light, and scented with an indescribable aroma; seemingly familiar yet unlike anything they have ever smelled before. 

 

A sudden realization struck with that one strong intake of air, they are no longer standing on the mountain, instead, they found themselves being ushered forward -as if summoned by their spirit to a grand entrance in a gloriously bright valley. 

 

Allowing their eyes to drink in the surroundings, lush grasses, vibrantly colored flora, waving tree limbs as the leaves themselves appear to dance with excitement at their arrival, almost as if they were clapping at their success for having arrived! 

 

The faces around them are unknown — yet there is a joyous, familiarity of them all.  

And beyond these, there are those standing beaming with an unimaginable excitement at their arrival. These, they know my name. As they draw closer, they see them all, all at once. Yet also individually, as if they are standing alone, without any of the brilliant distractions. 

 

There seems to be a light coming from within each of them which would normally be blinding, except that their eyes no longer seem hindered in any way by the lights, no matter the luminosity. Their optic nerves no longer catalog such a light in the same way as to seek shielding protection from such brilliance. It was as if the brilliance within each came from another Source, and they could not help but shine because of the incredible and undeniable love they all felt from one another.   

As each of the newcomers drew closer to the mass of family ahead, they realized with a suddenness, that they did feel that familial feeling so powerful that everyone present was indeed family. All at once, they realize the hand that pulled them up, was yet felt tangibly, as if a continuous source of strength, as each one made progressive steps along to a grand entrance. There was a sudden urgency among everyone, that Someone important was just leaving to bring an innumerable amount of family Home. 

 

The blast of the trumpet song echos throughout the already anticipating throng.  Something was happening, even though one did not know exactly what, there was an awesome awareness that required no explanations. They just knew. 

 

He had just left, but in the same instant, He would be back with the Saints. No one said it, yet all knew it. 

 

The time they had long for had arrived.  They were finally, Home.”  

 

 

© Angie Knight, November 21, 2023.  All rights reserved.

Photo credits:  www.pixabay.com (free stock photos)