On Monday Chris texted asking if I might write new words to the hymn “Softly and Tenderly” focusing on the theme “Come Home”. With that request I began to think about the term ‘home’. It is such a small word but really it is loaded with meaning, at least it is for me.
That State of Being Home
When people want to know where you were born and raised they ask “where are you from?”
When they refer to the physical structure that someone lives in they talk about a house.
When people talk about ‘home’ they are, I think, referring not to a place but to a state of being.
Home, for me, is something that speaks of warmth, love and care. It is the foundation upon which one stands, where the roots go deep and where the soul is nurtured and fed. It is where family and friends embrace you with acceptance and celebrate all that you are and are not. It is where you are free to be your true self. When one is ‘home’, I believe there is a peace that passes all understanding and someone is always waiting to greet you with open arms.
When I think about this term through the eyes of faith I see home as that state of being to which we are being continually called. The energy of the Universe draws us and we are empowered to create ‘home’ for all earth’s children where each person knows they are accepted, loved and honoured.
Love Waits
With all of this in mind and with the story of the prodigal son in the background I tackled Chris’s request for new words and this is what I wrote:
Just as a father stands watching and waiting
Hoping his lost son to see
So the creator stands watching and waiting
Waiting for you and for me.
Come home, come home
All of earth’s children, come home
Enter now into a place of acceptance
Here, all are welcome, come home.
Oh what a wonderful love we’ve been promised
No matter who we may be
Though we may stray, we are never forgotten
Love waits for you and for me
When we return we’ll find great celebration
Singing and dancing there’ll be
Room at the banquet, each person finds honour
Honour for you and for me.
My prayer this day is that each person will know that state of being home. May you know acceptance for who you are and may you know a love and peace that passes all understanding.
Blessings
Valerie
© 2016 Rev. Valerie Peyton Kingsbury. All rights reserved.
Valerie, the words you have rewritten for the hymn are beautiful, but you have touched my heart again with the words you wrote about what “home” means to you. My prayer is that every person in this world will, at some point or time in their life, be filled with this feeling of “home” that you have described. Please keep writing. Your words are truly uplifting and inspiring.