Home at Last

I picture it like this:

A mom in a warmly lit kitchen with the smell of something wonderful baking in the oven and her 4 boys standing around her, holding cups of steaming coffee or hot chocolate. They have some cheerful jazz playing in the background, but it is mostly unheard under the sound of the young men teasing their mother, hooting in laughter, as they tug her apron strings to have her join them in a card game at the kitchen table. Her two husbands, both who left her widowed before the end of her own long life, sit and read the newspaper, lounging in recliners by the fire with family afghans over their laps and contentment on their faces.

One of these husbands met her when she was only 12 – and he was 19. He was an aspiring preacher going off to seminary. In a romantic, and most likely impulsive spirit, she promised herself to him. Seven years later, when he was done with school, they reunited and married. She bore him 6 boys.

Years later, she was widowed.

When she fell in love again, her boys (now grown men) walked her down the aisle and sang to a crowded church of family and friends. Love had struck twice.

Years later, she was widowed again.

Now, with them all under one roof, only 2 things were missing. This past week, both walked in the door as they finally returned Home.

My grandpa and his last living brother joined their mom, dad, stepdad, and 4 brothers after both passed away this week.

I imagine it was a joyous reunion. There were hugs, tears, laughter, and the gentle teasing that always accompanies siblings. A mother had all of her boys under one roof again. I imagine our Creator smiling on the scene that He had set, rejoicing in His most beautiful and fulfilling creation – FAMILY.

In all the abundant love and joy that can be found in our sometimes chaotic earthly homes, it is astonishing and heartwarming to think that there are even better and brighter moments to be found when we pass from this, and enter our new Home that has been set and waiting for us before we were even born.