Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Winter (11/14/05)
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TITLE: I Want To Go Home | Previous Challenge Entry
By Suzanne R
11/21/05 -
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I want to go home!
Were I a child, I'd stamp my feet, scream, kick, sob and generally create havoc until somebody took me home.
But I'm all grown up. I've things to do.
My bones hurt ... my teeth ache ... my cheeks sting ... my ears feel like they're going to fall off ... my nose, throat and lungs burn as if I've inhaled dry ice.
I look out of the bus window. Perhaps the cold has numbed my appreciation of beauty. Perhaps there truly is no beauty to be enjoyed on this cold winter morning. Over there are the grey-brown matchsticks of what was once a fruitful orchard. Here by this grey road is the brown grass that was once green and will soon be no more. By the empty brown field there are some brown greenhouses, made of clay and rolls of matted brown sticks - greenhouses that are anything but green. Even the air is grey. The sun struggles to penetrate the fine coal dust which belches out of the chimney stacks of every neighbourhood furnace.
I want to go home. I want to crawl under the covers and defrost. I want to stay there until spring.
But I'm all grown up. I've things to do.
There are flecks of colour in this environment, yet even they are grey-brown. The red plastic bags littering the landscape are dusty. The yellow trucks belching their exhaust into the grey air are dusty. The blue roofs of the bus shelters under which people clad in dirty khaki coats huddle are dusty. Every pore of my skin is clogged with dust. I’m sure my heart is dusty too.
I want to go home. I want to stand under a steaming hot shower. I want to wash the dust out of my hair, ears, nose and mouth. I want to put on clean and colourful clothes.
But I'm all grown up. I've things to do.
My body is stuck on this slow frigid bus, but I force my mind to leave the pity party in which I’m indulging. In my imagination, I escape to where my soul longs to be.
Heaven is light, bright and sparkling clean. The light doesn't need to penetrate anything because the air is clean. Heaven is lit by the awesome origin of light itself. The streets are golden, the gates are pearly, the river clear as crystal, the trees laden with colourful and good fruit, as well as deep green leaves which are said to contain healing for the nations.
Thoughts of heaven defrost my frozen heart. But not my body.
I don't belong here. Oh God, I just want to go home!
But I'm all grown up. I've things to do.
The bus finally arrives and I join the shivering throng in the city. Peeling away from the masses, I enter a tall building and take the rickety elevator to the 16th floor.
Relief from the cold washes over me as I enter the heated office and enjoy a tiny taste of heaven. Gathered together with brothers and sisters in Christ, we pray together and study the vital topic of ‘discipleship’. I’m reminded of the importance of prayer, Bible study and sacrificial living.
God has prepared good works for those who are His. We have important tasks to accomplish in this dismal barren environment. We've lives to touch, people to take by the chapped dry red hands. Souls to lead home.
One day, we'll go home. We'll be given new bodies, new clothes, and they'll be lightweight! It will be warm! We'll dance and sing for joy. That is where we belong.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus. I want to go home. Now.
But I’m all grown up. I’ve things to do. Grant me the ability to keep my focus clear, Father. Bless these feeble efforts until the day I meet you face to face.
Until the day I finally go home.
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You have flair, you flow...
and you know it!
Hmmm... I'd love to read your journal someday if you write this well about day to day life.
Can you imagine how Jesus felt during His time among us? You stir thoughts such as this well done
What a good reminder to us all! This hit me particularly. Excellent spin on 'home', and excellent description, as always! Well done Suzanne.
Anyway, this is a Winner! It is true! WE have Things to do! Remember the harvest? And not enough workers to harvest? That story Jesus told? Yes, it was a masterful story! Just brilliant! Thank you.