Ex Vivo: Homesick

"Fall Free Days," AKA a 5 day weekend in October, for most people involves a wonderful, restful, few days home. This is of course, unless you live thousands of miles away from home, and are faced with staying 5 days on a vacant campus, moping in your room wishing you were some place else. My roommate, Alicia, and I were very likely to face this doleful reality, when a good friend of mine, Monica, came to the rescue. Her lovely family graciously welcomed us to their home. We enjoyed a long weekend of delicious home cooked meals, good conversation, a welcoming church community at Vespers and Liturgy, restful studying, and time to complete load upon load of laundry.
Many, many thanks to their family!
Staying in a living, breathing, functioning home made me realize how I long to be home - my home. I know this place is where I am meant and purposed to be at this season in my life. I am growing, thriving, and enjoying every second. Yet, there is a pressing undertone of sadness every time I think of home. I miss faces, places, familiar sights, sounds, and voices. The funny thing is I have never been one to be particularly homesick. These are such odd and foreign feelings I am processing through. My lovely roommate and I, Alicia, are blessed enough to process through these un-tread waters together. One day in particular we were both feeling especially homesick, when she brought up an interesting point. These feelings of homesickness are unnatural to us. We were not intended to unearth our roots and move somewhere else, leaving our friends and family. We were intended to stay loyal to, and cultivate the "soil" in which we have been planted. An odd pang of irony sets in when realizing this is indeed where I need to be, and yet it is exactly where I was never intended to be.
One night I was again having a rough stretch of homesickness, and I texted my Godmother asking for prayer. In her deep wisdom and consolation, she replied saying that while these are hard emotions to work through, they are also good for our souls. It is a continual reminder that we should indeed be homesick - homesick for our eternal home with Christ. These too, were emotions never intended to enter mankind. For just as in the beginning, we were intended to live with our Savior in perfect communion, forever and unto the ages.
When the pains of longings for home arise, I set my hope on the times I will see my family, speak with them, and hug them again. Meanwhile, there are still places to grow, papers to write, and people to meet here and now. It is in times like these to also remember that when a (healthy) longing in my heart for my heavenly home arises, there is still work to be done.

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Here are some pictures taken from our time spent on Fall break. Enjoy!

A Fitting Hospitality Icon Hanging by the Jekel's Front Door