The Way Home

I read "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan long ago.  I remember getting my first copy from my grandfather's library when he died.  It was a small volume.  The most striking thing about the book was the way it was frayed around the spine and wore worn out covers.  Some of the pages were folded over from the opening and closing.  It was worn enough that I knew it had to be an important book.  It had to be one that was read more than once.  It was not a book that had gotten worn out from sitting on the shelf, but from being held in the hands.   As anyone would assume, it was about a  pilgrim's journey.    

In the case of Bunyan's allegory, it is the story of a pilgrim's journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.  Perhaps, one of the reasons for its timeless popularity is that we are all pilgrims.  We are all on a journey from where we began to where we are going.  We began in the heart of God and to the heart of God we are going.  It is a physical journey we describe as one which takes us from conception to the grave, but it also the spiritual journey which takes us back to the place of our belonging.  We belong to God.    

There is a forgetfulness which afflicts so many who share this journey with us.  So many times it seems that we have forgotten where it is that we are really going.  It is not up some ladder where power and prestige await us.  It is not to some place which has the sign, "Arrived."  Our forever anxiety and stress is related to our forgetfulness.  We are a people who have forgotten who we are.  We are a people who have forgotten where we are going.  We have too often ignored this longing for the heart of God.  We have too often forgotten the real purpose for this life as well as the way Home.  It is to meet this need that Christ has come.  He shows us who we are and the way Home.