Coming Home

I am an alien.

I feel it in every fiber of my being.

I don’t belong here.

I long for another world;

Where all is at peace;

Where my heart can finally rest.

But while I am in this foreign land,

There is so much I love:

Vivid, passionate sunsets,

Which beg me to pause and stare;

Crisp, sunny fall days,

Bearing trees that come alive with color;

Peaceful, rhythmic beaches,

That stretch beyond the imagination.

Loving, caring friends,

Whose presence soothes my aching heart.

Lord, You give us so much to love,

And You call us to love with Your passion.

Yet, when we do, You take it all away.

For sunsets fade into dark nights;

Leaves fall, revealing naked trees;

Beaches erode into nothingness;

And those we love the most, pass away.

Your admonition seems to be a paradox:

“Love deeply but hold loosely.”

Or maybe the message is more profound.

Perhaps Your reminder is a call

To prioritize that which we can take home,

When we, as aliens, return to Your presence.

For the beauty of this world will fade,

When compared to Your glory,

But the relationships that matter the most

Either will or will not follow us there.

Our mission is simple.

Show them they are aliens too.

Whet their longing for another life.

So that they too can learn to love passionately,

Hold loosely, and look ahead

To the warmest homecoming ever.

                                   Patti McCarthy Broderick

                                   October 2004