Heavenly Home

Daniel Overdorf- One Friday afternoon I struggled to prepare for the weekend. The week’s hectic pace, filled with activities, left me scrambling on Friday to finish my sermon. While I hunched over my desk, unable to develop anything that resembled a sermon, the office phone rang. From the phone’s earpiece came the shaky voice of an elderly lady who lived in the nursing home, Mrs. Robinson. She wanted me to visit. I looked at my unfinished sermon, then at the clock, then back at the computer screen. I grimaced. “I’l be right over.” Mrs. Robinson served in the church for years. She had endured a difficult life. She had outlived all of her family. Though she resided in a nursing home full of people, she lived alone. “I’ll just make it a short visit, then I can get back to more important things.” I entered her room, sat in the recliner next to her bed, and asked Mrs. Robinson about her week. She raised her head briefly from her pillow and smiled. “Awful kind of you to visit an old lady.” My shoulders and eyes dropped, “My week has been fine, thanks for asking,” she continued. “The beautician came by and gave me a new hair style. Do you like it?” “Very pretty,” I responded, though I could tell no difference from before. I glanced at my watch. We chatted briefly about the happenings at the nursing home, then Mrs. Robinson grew quiet. Her eyes focused somewhere beyond the room. “I’m tired, and I want to go home,” she said. Her head turned toward me,”Is it okay to want to go home?” To Mrs. Robinson, home meant heaven- a home for which her tired body and spirit ached. Is it okay to yearn for our heavenly home?