Come Home For God’s Love

Good morning…

Morning after morning, I choose a different coffee mug for a different reason. Today I sip from a big, blue mug bearing the words: “Donut Hole – Established in 1978.” A few years back, our 22-year-old son and I bought matching keepsakes after enjoying a yummy breakfast at the Donut Hole restaurant near Rosemary Beach, Florida. I sip from my memory-keeping mug right now, since today is the first Thanksgiving morn he is not waking in our home, and half of my heart is with him as he ministers to college students in Australia.

I am not the only one waking up missing a loved one today. After reading our recent morning message Trust God In Life’s Noise, one subscriber wrote: “For the first time in many years I am alone by the seaside reading your blog today. I substituted ‘the roar of the ocean’ for ‘silence’ and still feel the message just as powerfully. My precious Mother died in August but this is the first time I’ve been able to get away from dealing with estate details and preparing for my unknown future. Seeing the miracles of sky and sea while trying to know God’s direction, I find that the noise of the wind and ocean is calming. I better understand his ‘slow-steady timing’ in the repetitive nature of waves and I will know soon enough what my future will be. My silent trust is found in God’s own noise. Thank you again for touching my heart with words I needed to see today.”

Yesterday, my own heart was touched with the words I needed to see as I prepared our home for the holidays. A few birthdays back, the son I am missing bought with his own money a plaque that lives in our guest room, a plague that now brings me to tears. This grey-blueish gift reads: “Go out to see the world – come home for love.” Back then, God already knew He would be coaxing our son out of the country to see and to serve the world.

Only God knows the details of our unknown future, details being revealed in His slow-steady time. Wherever we wake today, in Atlanta or Australia, on earth or in heaven, may we trust and obey God’s repetitive whisper: “Come home for My love.”