The blog-nest has been silent for a little while, for Sparrow has flitted away. Away from the crowds and busyness of the place where she lives, from the loud noises and clouds that hide the stars. She passed the snowy mountains glissading with summer streams, and kept on going til the western wind embraced her and gathered her in to home.
For now I am home; here in the canyon that holds my heart. Drive for a little while and you'll be passing through fields of wheat, where the sweeping wind makes trails as you head onward into the most glorious sunset you've ever seen. Climb the nearest slope and look about at the mountains and hills all in blue and purple haze, and stay there in the utter stillness til the sunlight fades and the heavens' jewelry box is opened. Then watch the infinity of stars behind stars in the whorl of sapphire and midnight, and remember the God Infinite beyond them all... and cherish the silence.
But it is the hearts surrounding me here that bring me joy, and that are more home to me than the sparkling stars and sunsets of this beautiful place could ever be. The days of clouds and freezing rain are just as full of joy when I have alongside me a person of hope, of comfort, of love, and of weakness. For we are both full of weakness, and it is in our weakness that Christ's strength overflows; and it is in our sorrows that comfort overflows; it is in our friendship and Christ's victory that joy overflows; and in all of this, God's love never runs dry.
It is His love that is our home, for we are truly family. I have younger sisters and brothers whom I am gathering into God's love every day, and older brothers and sisters who comfort and strengthen me, whom I also love with all of my heart and God's. They strengthen me with Truth, even if it is hard, and in everything the love and hope of Christ is between and about us as we pour out ourselves in service and fun and encouragement and hardship.
In the quiet days, in the painful days, in the joyful days, in the days of peace or of struggle... Christ's love makes this place what it is. A refuge, a family, a place of hope. And for me, a taste of the joy I will feel on the day when all sorrows are over and all things are made new.
And so I will cherish not only the silence, but the tenderness of the Creator who is infinite beyond the stars, and yet with me beneath them. And I will cherish the hearts that he has placed beneath the same stars. I know I cannot stay here forever, but for now I will rest in this love that is a tiny touch of heaven--and remember, when I leave, that there will be a day of no more goodbyes.
The day we are finally home.
