Not Really Home

Lately I've been craving Germany. It may sound odd, to crave a place. But to me Germany is my second home. It's, first of all, my birthplace which makes it special in my heart. There are memories built there over the years and the many trips back and there is family there that I see once every two or three or four years.
   These days everything has been reminding me of Germany. I'll smell a flower and think, oh, that fragrance is right on the street where my Oma lives. Or I'll taste a food and it will bring my back to Oma's dining table. A sound or a sight of rolling hills will spark images in my mind of places I've seen and visited there.
   Of course, when I'm there, I miss Minnesota and all my family here. There's never a true contentment in either place. I often wish I could mold the two places together side by side and have the best of both worlds.
   As I thought about this and was missing Germany I was reminded of something a friend told me. As she was moving from one state to another and was having a really hard time with it, a friend of her's told her something so simple yet so profound. "You know," she said, "neither place is really home."
  Isn't that the truth? If we truly love our God and know our place after death, no where on this earth is truly home. We will never feel a true contentment because our hearts know where home is and we aren't there yet. It helps close the gap of over 3000 miles on days when I miss Germany to remember that it's not really home, nor is Northfield, Minnesota. My true home is heaven and while I wait anxiously to go there and be home, I will serve my Lord here for as long as He'll let me.
¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21