Sunday Afternoon Tea - Homesick

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

By the time we arrive to late July every Summer, the narrow road that leads to the ByPass is shadowed by the full canopy of the forest on either side.  The breaks in the forest are only a few and one of them is near a curb at the end of a small lake.

Near that curb are fields which have long ago been cut out of the forest, now used to grow a small crop for some farmer... corn one year, soybeans the next year.  This year, the lush green of the crop is an obvious glimpse of soybeans almost near the time of harvest.

Recently I was driving into town when in the distance, at this very spot, I noticed a young deer running across the road.  There were no other cars around so I could easily slow down and gaze at not only its' beauty but to see if it was alone.  For long ago I was taught that if you see one deer, there are probably more.  Not to mention if they are running, wait to see if there is another animal chasing them. 

Hmmm... Bigfoot?  But I digress...

I slowed the car to almost a stop and as anticipated, a few seconds later another deer ran across the road, a few seconds after that a third deer quickly followed.  When it looked like there were no more deer, I slowly drove forward to where they had crossed and stopped the car.  I looked to the direction from where they had run from and there were no other deer to be seen, neither could I see what had spooked them in the first place. 

Perhaps their mother had warned them to run as quickly as possible when they were out of the protection of the trees, for that sounds like something a mother would advise.  Within seconds, I looked to the direction where the deer had run into and they had already made their way through the soybeans and to the edge of the field where the forest begins again.

As I made my way into town, I thought how grateful I was to have been far enough away from the deer to slowly stop for their safety and mine.  I also got to thinking how we gain information through the years just by being around those with knowledge about the important things of life like deer and crop rotation.

Perhaps I heard about deer as a child from my father, who loved to hunt albeit his preference was usually small game like rabbits.  My parents were not farmers but one cannot grow up in this part of the Midwest without picking up such Truths as the field that grows corn one year must grow something else the following year... in this area that would be soybeans.

When we lived in a place completely unlike where I grew up... near Metro Detroit... and were surrounded by large streets and 24/7 traffic, I certainly missed living near the University but I also missed the fields and barns and the rural areas of the County.  One could only see the change of seasons when the small trees planted in containers at the edge of sidewalks began to turn their color, the air was crisp, and the sky was that shade of blue we see in October.

Although, I found the area we lived in near Detroit... albeit different than what I was used to.... to have its' own good points such as being able to walk anywhere as long as one did not stay out past dark.  This was important when one's engineer husband traveled all the time and the family car was often parked at Detroit International Airport.  I still missed... Home.

Recently I have been thinking about how everything going on in the world has been affecting me and those I love.  Being an optimist, I have found it unsettling to be concerned about the future my children and grandchildren will inherit.  I have to remind myself that they were born for such a time as this... and so was I.

We can understand such Truths and still find ourselves unsettled.  Spooked not unlike the deer running from and to the safety of the forest.  We know God is at work in all things but how is this all going to unfold in the months and years before us?

Those of us who are students of Bible prophecy appreciate the roadmap we have been given, written by the ancients long ago for future generations.  I have no idea where we are in the calendar of God specifically but His Word does say that we will know the season of his coming and we are certainly in it now.

Each year that passes has been like the tweaking of the camera lens, bringing the image into clearer focus.  Then there was 2020 and the world came crashing down all around us.  It was as if everything that could be shaken was being shaken and most of us were having to get used to a different way of doing things. Is God in the shaking?  Well, to be honest... I think He is the one who is allowing it from everything I read in the Bible. 

Something happens when the ground is shaking, or so I have been told by those going through an earthquake.  It helps to hold on to something sturdy and keep your eye on one object to ground your line of sight as everything around you is being shaken.  Hopefully, that object is one that is solid and stable.

While I often long for the world as it once was, before the era of terrorists and plagues, I realized that my real longing is for when all things are made new.  The longer I have lived in this fallen world, the less I have been enamored by the illusion of its' glitz and glitter.  When I was young, I thought the world had everything to give me.  Now I know better. 

I am certain now that what the events of 2020 have done are to make me even more Homesick.  Not for the rural Midwest of my childhood but for my real Home.  There is a reason my thoughts turn toward Eternal things more often.  I am longing for Home.

I look at the Beauty of the forest and wonder what the New Earth will be like in all its' Perfection.  Even as the planet in its' fallen state continues to have those echoes of Eden... that which exists, not in spite of the imperfections, but with them actually adding to the beauty by the Master Artist.

I am learning to not give all my attention to what may be coming upon the world as His coming is near.  Those years are brief and very temporary.  Instead, I'm realizing that my homesickness will soon come to an end.  That which I have longed for deep in my heart since I can remember will soon become more real than this world has ever been.  There is a reason nothing in this world has ever truly satisfied the longings of my heart.

As Lewis so eloquently stated it above, "the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world".  Maranatha.

Image:  Be Ready Lexington (A story warning about watching for deer on the roads.)