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TheDiscipleMD

Dorothy said it best, “There’s no place like home.” (“Wizard of Oz”). But what is home? Is it the place where you reside, your location of birth, or perhaps where one feels safe. Maybe it is not at a geological location at all. Maybe it is a state of mind! Most of us feel that at least we could call the earth our home; but is it? I am sure the word “home” can mean many things to many people. But to me, the word “home” speaks of the “family.” I think that is what Dorothy meant when she repeatedly stated, “There’s no place like home” in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” She really didn’t mean Kansas, because if her family wasn’t in Kansas, she wouldn’t have wanted to go there. I think Dorothy meant that she wanted to go “home” to her “family.” And if her family had moved to Oklahoma while she was in Oz, Oklahoma is where Dorothy would have wanted to go.

The wonderful thing about growing older and leaving “home” is that your “home” starts to expand. When I visit my parents, no matter where they reside, I am home. When I visit my siblings, no matter what state or country, I feel I am home. As each of my children move out and are on their own, their houses become another “home” for me. And I am sure that when my grandchildren are grown and form “homes” of their own, they will provide for me yet another place that I can call my own. Indeed, “there’s no place like home” is anyplace where a loved one resides, because there I will be treated as a member of that household.

The joy of the gospel, is the knowledge that all of us are brothers and sisters. We come from the same “home” above. Sometimes we forget in this earthly life the fact that we all are brothers and sisters. The apostle Paul reminded the Ephesians regarding this principle when he wrote:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”. (Ephesians 2:19)

It has always been comforting to me to know that no matter where I go,  a family of saints will be there to provide a “home.”  This concept of all of us, regardless of religion, race, or creed  being ‘family’ is a divine concept that is not only wonderous, but true!   The joy of understanding that we are all  part of a loving eternal family makes living on this planet of “Oz” bearable.  Because we know that someday, when we click our heels, we will return to our celestial home above.  Some call it Heaven, others call it the Celestial Kingdom and others call it something else. But you can call it Kansas for all I care, because the name is not what is important. Because wherever our eternal family resides, there is where we want to be!