Give Your Heart A Home

Have you ever noticed how the drive to a place you have never been before seems longer than the return trip along the same route? I experienced this phenomenon on a recent trip to Lake City, SC. The unfamiliar roads twisted and turned for seemingly endless miles with only the robotic voice of my GPS leading the way. I wish my GPS knew how to give what my husband calls “girl directions”. Instead of simply stating, “Continue on SC Route 134 for 46 miles”, it would say something like: “Turn right and then stay on 134 for about half an hour or so. You can go fast past all the corn fields but slow down after that. When you get to the big stop sign and blinking caution light you will see a building on the left with a red tin roof. Be sure to stop and browse, because they have great hostess gifts!” Don’t get me wrong. I am very thankful for my GPS. Without it the police at the speed traps after the corn fields would more than likely have been out on a “search and rescue” mission trying to find me!.
Joining other friends I took my seat in a comfortable wooden pew and opened the program inscribed, “In Loving Memory of Milne Eaddy”. Milne is the mother of a dear friend who is also a member of a small group of women known as the Tuesday Girls. The name was derived from the days we lived on the coast of South Carolina and met each Tuesday for prayer and topical Bible studies. Separated now by time and space, we continue the tradition by gathering once a year for a time of rest and reflection and would never miss being together in times of celebration or sorrow.
Reading the order of the service, I was struck by the number of family members participating. The prelude was played by a beloved granddaughter, the presiding pastor was a newly ordained nephew and the eulogy was given by another granddaughter. It was this granddaughter who most deeply touched me with her words.
“I am a military wife and, because of that, I have not been able to be with my Grandmother as often as I would have liked. She knew that and she knew it was hard for me to be away from her. So, whenever we talked she never ended our conversation without reminding me that, though I may be separated from my family, nothing could separate me from the love of God. She would tell me to remember the words of the children’s song, Jesus Loves Me and never said good bye without reminding me she loved me too”. With quivering hands and a lump in her throat, the beautiful young woman at the podium concluded by saying, “The love of my Grandmother and her reminders of God’s love for me has helped me be a good military wife.”
Driving home on the now semi-familiar route, time seemed to fly even as a steady rain added water hazards to my journey. I reflected on the words of my friend’s daughter based on the Biblical truth of Romans 8:38-39. They could have well been my own. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No matter where life takes you, with or without military orders, when you know the love of Jesus your heart will always have a home.