Homesick - the reality

Not too long ago I was talking with someone and they told me that they were homesick.  Homesick. What does it mean to be "homesick"?

When I was just 5 years old (almost 6), my parents sent me to camp for the first time.  From Sunday to Sunday, I enjoyed the fun of Camp at Sandy Hill Boys Camp.  I wanted to stay!  Go home... not likely, not if I could help it.  Homesick - not a chance.  I was loving the newness of camp, the adventures, the games, the activity...  Camp was awesome.

Every year after that I spent time at camp - eventually working at a camp for 2 summers.  I loved being away from home.

I found this definition on the web today - Homesick: longing for home and family while absent from them.

And it dawns on me, I was never homesick because I engulfed myself in the surroundings that I was part of  and home was where I was.  Yeah, I missed my family, but why stress about what you cannot change.  Enjoy being where you are.


While at camp, I knew it was temporary; live each day to the fullest because come Sunday you are heading home.  No reason to long for home, it is coming soon enough, enjoy the events of today because eventually you will be wishing you were here again. That type of reasoning makes sense, and actually is pretty healthy when it comes to being away from home.

I find myself more recently realizing that I want to live this way regarding my true home.  I want to be homesick for my real home, my eternal home, my heavenly family.

The pleasures of this life are to be enjoyed, after all that is why God gives them to us, but they are to be enjoyed as a young boy enjoys camp.  It is temporary.  I didn't set up permanent residence at my camp, I lived out of a foot locker.  I didn't seek to own the horse, the 22 rifle, the cabin, the table in the mess hall, etc.  I didn't expect my parents to show up with a U-haul to take all of the things from camp home.  None of that would make sense - I didn't need those things at my house.  I had all that I needed there - at camp I just enjoyed the temporary and recognized it as such.

I wanted to behave in a way that represented my family well.  I longed for my counselors, other campers, and even the workers at the camp to tell my parents how well I did when they came to get me.

In the same way, I need to keep the realization of the temporary state of this life, and enjoy the things God gives me to enjoy, with the focus that ultimately His glory and His enjoyment are penultimate.  I want His name to be great.  Time goes by quickly, things are temporary, possessions are really just passing ownerships as eventually the things that last until my death are passed on to someone else.  Nothing here is permanent, except for the people.  This is not my home, this is just a brief stay in a temporary place.

I long to be more homesick...